diff --git a/cluster-autoscaler/config/autoscaling_options.go b/cluster-autoscaler/config/autoscaling_options.go
index 4dcd95245f5..df0327dcd14 100644
--- a/cluster-autoscaler/config/autoscaling_options.go
+++ b/cluster-autoscaler/config/autoscaling_options.go
@@ -148,6 +148,9 @@ type AutoscalingOptions struct {
 	// BalancingExtraIgnoredLabels is a list of labels to additionally ignore when comparing if two node groups are similar.
 	// Labels in BasicIgnoredLabels and the cloud provider-specific ignored labels are always ignored.
 	BalancingExtraIgnoredLabels []string
+	// BalancingLabels is a list of labels to use when comparing if two node groups are similar.
+	// If this is set, only labels are used to compare node groups. It is mutually exclusive with BalancingExtraIgnoredLabels.
+	BalancingLabels []string
 	// AWSUseStaticInstanceList tells if AWS cloud provider use static instance type list or dynamically fetch from remote APIs.
 	AWSUseStaticInstanceList bool
 	// ConcurrentGceRefreshes is the maximum number of concurrently refreshed instance groups or instance templates.
diff --git a/cluster-autoscaler/main.go b/cluster-autoscaler/main.go
index 37459a175bf..a06e2baa8dd 100644
--- a/cluster-autoscaler/main.go
+++ b/cluster-autoscaler/main.go
@@ -172,6 +172,7 @@ var (
 
 	ignoreTaintsFlag                   = multiStringFlag("ignore-taint", "Specifies a taint to ignore in node templates when considering to scale a node group")
 	balancingIgnoreLabelsFlag          = multiStringFlag("balancing-ignore-label", "Specifies a label to ignore in addition to the basic and cloud-provider set of labels when comparing if two node groups are similar")
+ 	balancingLabelsFlag                = multiStringFlag("balancing-label", "Specifies a label to use for comparing if two node groups are similar, rather than the built in heuristics. Setting this flag disables all other comparison logic, and cannot be combined with --balancing-ignore-label.")
 	awsUseStaticInstanceList           = flag.Bool("aws-use-static-instance-list", false, "Should CA fetch instance types in runtime or use a static list. AWS only")
 	concurrentGceRefreshes             = flag.Int("gce-concurrent-refreshes", 1, "Maximum number of concurrent refreshes per cloud object type.")
 	enableProfiling                    = flag.Bool("profiling", false, "Is debug/pprof endpoint enabled")
@@ -248,6 +249,7 @@ func createAutoscalingOptions() config.AutoscalingOptions {
 		NewPodScaleUpDelay:                 *newPodScaleUpDelay,
 		IgnoredTaints:                      *ignoreTaintsFlag,
 		BalancingExtraIgnoredLabels:        *balancingIgnoreLabelsFlag,
+		BalancingLabels:                    *balancingLabelsFlag,
 		KubeConfigPath:                     *kubeConfigFile,
 		NodeDeletionDelayTimeout:           *nodeDeletionDelayTimeout,
 		AWSUseStaticInstanceList:           *awsUseStaticInstanceList,
@@ -318,17 +320,19 @@ func buildAutoscaler() (core.Autoscaler, error) {
 	opts.Processors = ca_processors.DefaultProcessors()
 	opts.Processors.PodListProcessor = core.NewFilterOutSchedulablePodListProcessor()
 
-	nodeInfoComparatorBuilder := nodegroupset.CreateGenericNodeInfoComparator
-	if autoscalingOptions.CloudProviderName == cloudprovider.AzureProviderName {
-		nodeInfoComparatorBuilder = nodegroupset.CreateAzureNodeInfoComparator
+	var nodeInfoComparator nodegroupset.NodeInfoComparator
+	if len(autoscalingOptions.BalancingLabels) > 0 {
+		nodeInfoComparator = nodegroupset.CreateLabelNodeInfoComparator(autoscalingOptions.BalancingLabels)
+	} else if autoscalingOptions.CloudProviderName == cloudprovider.AzureProviderName {
+		nodeInfoComparator = nodegroupset.CreateAzureNodeInfoComparator(autoscalingOptions.BalancingExtraIgnoredLabels)
 	} else if autoscalingOptions.CloudProviderName == cloudprovider.AwsProviderName {
-		nodeInfoComparatorBuilder = nodegroupset.CreateAwsNodeInfoComparator
+		nodeInfoComparator = nodegroupset.CreateAwsNodeInfoComparator(autoscalingOptions.BalancingExtraIgnoredLabels)
 	} else if autoscalingOptions.CloudProviderName == cloudprovider.GceProviderName {
-		nodeInfoComparatorBuilder = nodegroupset.CreateGceNodeInfoComparator
+		nodeInfoComparator = nodegroupset.CreateGceNodeInfoComparator(autoscalingOptions.BalancingExtraIgnoredLabels)
 	}
 
 	opts.Processors.NodeGroupSetProcessor = &nodegroupset.BalancingNodeGroupSetProcessor{
-		Comparator: nodeInfoComparatorBuilder(autoscalingOptions.BalancingExtraIgnoredLabels),
+		Comparator: nodeInfoComparator,
 	}
 
 	// These metrics should be published only once.
diff --git a/cluster-autoscaler/processors/nodegroupset/label_nodegroups.go b/cluster-autoscaler/processors/nodegroupset/label_nodegroups.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..c38f30fb005
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cluster-autoscaler/processors/nodegroupset/label_nodegroups.go
@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+/*
+Copyright 2021 The Kubernetes Authors.
+
+Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+You may obtain a copy of the License at
+
+    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+limitations under the License.
+*/
+
+package nodegroupset
+
+import (
+	klog "k8s.io/klog/v2"
+	schedulerframework "k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/scheduler/framework/v1alpha1"
+)
+
+// CreateLabelNodeInfoComparator returns a comparator that checks for node group similarity using the given labels.
+func CreateLabelNodeInfoComparator(labels []string) NodeInfoComparator {
+	return func(n1, n2 *schedulerframework.NodeInfo) bool {
+		return areLabelsSame(n1, n2, labels)
+	}
+}
+
+func areLabelsSame(n1, n2 *schedulerframework.NodeInfo, labels []string) bool {
+	for _, label := range labels {
+		val1 := n1.Node().ObjectMeta.Labels[label]
+		val2 := n2.Node().ObjectMeta.Labels[label]
+		if val1 != val2 {
+			klog.V(4).Infof("%s label did not match. %s: %s, %s: %s", label, n1.Node().Name, val1, n2.Node().Name, val2)
+			return false
+		}
+	}
+	return true
+}