Contour vs Airlock Microgateway

Contour9.0Visit Airlock Microgateway8.2Visit

Higher score Contour #4 in Kubernetes Ingress Controllers 9.0/10 Free plan Free plan✓ 4 of 5 features Visit Contour

vs

Airlock Microgateway #12 in Kubernetes Ingress Controllers 8.2/10 Free plan Free plan✓ 4 of 5 features Visit Airlock

• Contour fits best

  Teams wanting Envoy with flexible APIs

• Airlock Microgateway fits best

  Security-focused Kubernetes gateway deployments

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Side by side

Feature	Contour 9.0/10 Visit ↗	Airlock Microgateway 8.2/10 Visit ↗
At a glance
Editor score	9.0	8.2
Ranking	#4 in Kubernetes Ingress Controllers	#12 in Kubernetes Ingress Controllers
Best for	Teams wanting Envoy with flexible APIs	Security-focused Kubernetes gateway deployments
Pricing model	Free	Free plan + paid
Starting price	Free plan	—
Free plan	✓	✓
Free trial	—	—
Deployment	Self-hosted	Self-hosted
Support	Community, Docs	Community, Docs, Tickets, Phone
Integrations	3 integrations	10 integrations
Built for	Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise	Mid-market, Enterprise
Features Contour 4/5 · Airlock Microgateway 4/5
TLS automation	✓	✓
Canary routing	✓ (best)	Not checked yet
Rate limiting	✓	✓
Web application firewall	Not checked yet	✓ (best)
Auth policies	✓	✓
Specs
Ingress API model	Both	Both
Deployment model	Self-hosted	Self-hosted
Our review
Pros	Supports both Kubernetes Ingress and Gateway API Adds canary routing, rate limiting, TLS, and external authorization Envoy provides reverse-proxy and load-balancing capabilities	Free Community Edition supports unlimited requests with no license required Combines TLS, mTLS, rate limiting, filtering, and authentication Integrates with Kubernetes, OpenShift, Istio, Cilium, Helm, and observability tools
Cons	Requires self-hosted Kubernetes deployment and operations Some TLS automation depends on cert-manager integration External authorization requires a separate authorization service	Self-hosted deployment requires a Kubernetes environment Premium Edition uses license-based pricing Community Edition provides community support rather than Airlock support
Our verdict	Contour is an open-source Kubernetes ingress controller for cluster administrators and application developers operating self-hosted Kubernetes environments. It provides a control plane for Envoy and supports Kubernetes Ingress v1, the… Read the review →	Airlock Microgateway is a self-hosted Kubernetes gateway for teams routing application and API traffic inside Kubernetes environments. It supports Ingress and Kubernetes Gateway API deployment patterns, reverse-proxy routing, TLS… Read the review →

Strengths and trade-offs

• Contour — where it wins

  • Supports both Kubernetes Ingress and Gateway API
  • Adds canary routing, rate limiting, TLS, and external authorization
  • Envoy provides reverse-proxy and load-balancing capabilities

  Where it doesn't

  • Requires self-hosted Kubernetes deployment and operations
  • Some TLS automation depends on cert-manager integration
  • External authorization requires a separate authorization service

• Airlock Microgateway — where it wins

  • Free Community Edition supports unlimited requests with no license required
  • Combines TLS, mTLS, rate limiting, filtering, and authentication
  • Integrates with Kubernetes, OpenShift, Istio, Cilium, Helm, and observability tools

  Where it doesn't

  • Self-hosted deployment requires a Kubernetes environment
  • Premium Edition uses license-based pricing
  • Community Edition provides community support rather than Airlock support

• Contour9.0/10 · Free plan

  A flexible self-hosted choice for teams that want Envoy, Ingress, and Gateway API support.

  Visit ContourFull verdict →
• Airlock Microgateway8.2/10 · Free plan

  A security-focused self-hosted gateway with a capable free Community Edition.

  Visit AirlockFull verdict →