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Envoy

Open-source edge and service proxy with dynamic configuration, built for microservice architectures.

Open sourceSelf-hostableWeb servers

Updated · AppBreakup editorial · Linux, macOS, Self-hosted

Visit EnvoySee 5 alternatives

Is Envoy free?

Yes, free and open source

License:
Apache-2.0

Checked on Envoy's site Nov 5, 2026

Switch from Envoy to

All 5
  • Ha
    HAProxy

    Open source

  • Squid logo
    Squid

    Open source

  • Kong logo
    Kong

    Starting price: From $25/month plus usage (Konnect Plus)

Verified facts
4 of 4
Alternatives ranked
5
Approved reviews
0
Visits sent from here
0

About Envoy

Envoy is an open-source proxy written in C++ that runs at the edge of a network or beside each service in a microservice system. It was built at Lyft and is now a graduated Cloud Native Computing Foundation project. Envoy handles HTTP/1.1, HTTP/2, HTTP/3 and gRPC, and adds load balancing with retries, circuit breaking and rate limiting, TLS and mutual TLS, plus detailed stats and tracing. Its main difference from older proxies is that routes, clusters and policies can be changed at runtime through the xDS APIs, so a control plane can reconfigure thousands of proxies without restarts. That is why it underpins service meshes such as Istio and many API gateways. Envoy is free under the Apache 2.0 licence, with commercial support available from third-party vendors. It is aimed at platform engineers running Kubernetes or large service fleets; for a simple website, its verbose YAML configuration and operational overhead are usually more than you need.

Best for: Platform teams building service meshes or API gateways on Kubernetes.

Pros and cons

What works

  • Reconfigurable at runtime through xDS APIs
  • First-class HTTP/2, HTTP/3 and gRPC support
  • Rich metrics and tracing out of the box

Why people leave

  • Verbose configuration that's hard to write by hand
  • Usually needs a control plane to manage at scale
  • Overkill for a single website or small app

Envoy vs HAProxy, Squid and Kong

From each app's listing and the prices verified on its own site. A dash means we haven't verified it yet.

AttributeEnvoyHAProxySquidKong
PricingOpen sourceOpen sourceOpen sourceOpen source
Verified price———From $25/month plus usage (Konnect Plus)
Free planFree appFree appFree appFree app
Open sourceYesYesYesYes
Self-hostableYesYesYesYes
PlatformsLinux, macOS, Self-hostedLinux, Self-hostedLinux, Windows, Self-hostedWeb, Linux, Self-hosted

Top Envoy alternatives

See all 5
  1. 1Ha
    HAProxy

    Simpler, very fast load balancer with a single config file, easier to run without a control plane.

    68.8
  2. 2Squid logo
    Squid

    Mature caching proxy for teams that mainly need caching and access control rather than a service mesh.

    61.8
  3. 3Kong logo
    Kong

    Packaged API gateway with a plugin ecosystem and admin API, so less low-level proxy configuration.

    54.4
  4. 4Linkerd logo
    Linkerd

    Service mesh with its own small Rust proxy instead of Envoy sidecars, aimed at simpler setup and lower resource use.

    51.2
  5. 5Tyk logo
    Tyk

    Open-source API gateway with key management, rate limits and a developer portal built in, for edge use where Envoy needs extra pieces.

    50.0

Why people left Envoy

In reviewers' own words, from reviews of the apps they moved to. These are their opinions, not ours.

No switching stories yet. If you moved away from Envoy, review the app you switched to and tell us why.

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Envoy: common questions

What is Envoy?

Envoy: Open-source edge and service proxy with dynamic configuration, built for microservice architectures. Best for platform teams building service meshes or API gateways on Kubernetes. Available for Linux and macOS, and you can host it yourself.

Is Envoy free?

Yes. Envoy is free, open-source software that you can host yourself.

Is Envoy open source?

Yes. The source code is on GitHub at envoyproxy/envoy. You can also run it on your own server.

What platforms does Envoy run on?

Envoy is available for Linux, macOS and Self-hosted.

What are the best alternatives to Envoy?

The highest-ranked Envoy alternatives right now are HAProxy, Squid and Kong. See the full ranked list for pricing, platforms and verified facts.

Envoy vs HAProxy: what's the difference?

Both Envoy and HAProxy are free and open source. Only Envoy runs on macOS.

See all 5 Envoy alternatives