Calico Enterprise vs Isovalent Enterprise for Cilium

Calico Enterprise8.5Visit Isovalent Enterprise for Cilium8.4Visit

Higher score Calico Enterprise #6 in Container Networking Software 8.5/10 Pricing on request ✓ 0 of 5 features Visit Tigera

vs

Isovalent Enterprise for Cilium #7 in Container Networking Software 8.4/10 Pricing on request ✓ 0 of 5 features Visit Cisco

• Calico Enterprise fits best

  Enterprise Kubernetes security and networking

• Isovalent Enterprise for Cilium fits best

  Enterprise Cilium networking for self-hosted clusters

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Side by side

Feature	Calico Enterprise 8.5/10 Visit ↗	Isovalent Enterprise for Cilium 8.4/10 Visit ↗
At a glance
Editor score	8.5	8.4
Ranking	#6 in Container Networking Software	#7 in Container Networking Software
Best for	Enterprise Kubernetes security and networking	Enterprise Cilium networking for self-hosted clusters
Pricing model	Paid	Paid
Starting price	—	Pricing on request
Free plan	—	Not checked yet
Free trial	—	—
Deployment	Cloud, Self-hosted	Cloud, Self-hosted
Support	Docs	Docs
Built for	Mid-market, Enterprise	Mid-market, Enterprise
Features Calico Enterprise 0/5 · Isovalent Enterprise for Cilium 0/5
CNI plugin	Not checked yet	Not checked yet
Network policies	Not checked yet	Not checked yet
Egress control	Not checked yet	Not checked yet
Multi-cluster networking	Not checked yet	Not checked yet
Encryption in transit	Not checked yet	Not checked yet
Specs
Supported platforms	Not checked yet	Not checked yet
Our review
Pros	Supports eBPF, iptables, nftables, VPP, and Windows data planes Combines gateways, policies, cluster mesh, and centralized management Adds IDS/IPS, WAF, DDoS protection, observability, and compliance reporting	Identity-aware L3/L4 and L7 policies with network segmentation eBPF forwarding, encryption, routing, overlays, and load balancing Hubble provides cluster-wide traffic-flow observability
Cons	Pricing is contact-sales rather than publicly listed There is no free plan or open-source edition Self-managed deployment requires in-house operational responsibility	Pricing requires a sales conversation and is not published as a dollar price Designed for self-hosted Kubernetes and OpenShift environments Commercial licensing differs from open-source Cilium alternatives
Our verdict	Calico Enterprise is Tigera’s self-managed platform for Kubernetes networking and security. It is aimed at organizations running Kubernetes across cloud, on-premises, or edge environments that need centralized policy control, network… Read the review →	Isovalent Enterprise for Cilium is a commercial Kubernetes networking and security platform built on Cilium and eBPF. It is intended for platform, cloud-native, NetOps, and enterprise infrastructure teams managing self-hosted Kubernetes… Read the review →

Strengths and trade-offs

• Calico Enterprise — where it wins

  • Supports eBPF, iptables, nftables, VPP, and Windows data planes
  • Combines gateways, policies, cluster mesh, and centralized management
  • Adds IDS/IPS, WAF, DDoS protection, observability, and compliance reporting

  Where it doesn't

  • Pricing is contact-sales rather than publicly listed
  • There is no free plan or open-source edition
  • Self-managed deployment requires in-house operational responsibility

• Isovalent Enterprise for Cilium — where it wins

  • Identity-aware L3/L4 and L7 policies with network segmentation
  • eBPF forwarding, encryption, routing, overlays, and load balancing
  • Hubble provides cluster-wide traffic-flow observability

  Where it doesn't

  • Pricing requires a sales conversation and is not published as a dollar price
  • Designed for self-hosted Kubernetes and OpenShift environments
  • Commercial licensing differs from open-source Cilium alternatives

• Calico Enterprise8.5/10 · Pricing on request

  A broad Kubernetes networking and security suite for enterprises operating complex clusters.

  Visit TigeraFull verdict →
• Isovalent Enterprise for Cilium8.4/10 · Pricing on request

  A self-hosted Cilium platform for policy-controlled Kubernetes networking and visibility.

  Visit CiscoFull verdict →