Envoy Proxy vs F5 Distributed Cloud Load Balancing

Envoy Proxy8.5Visit F5 Distributed Cloud Load Balancing8.4Visit

Higher score Envoy Proxy #7 in Load Balancer Services 8.5/10 Free plan Free plan✓ 1 of 3 features Visit Envoy

vs

F5 Distributed Cloud Load Balancing #8 in Load Balancer Services 8.4/10 Pricing on request ✓ 3 of 3 features Visit F5

• Envoy Proxy fits best

  Engineers needing powerful open-source proxying

• F5 Distributed Cloud Load Balancing fits best

  Hybrid and multicloud enterprise delivery

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Side by side

Feature	Envoy Proxy 8.5/10 Visit ↗	F5 Distributed Cloud Load Balancing 8.4/10 Visit ↗
At a glance
Editor score	8.5	8.4
Ranking	#7 in Load Balancer Services	#8 in Load Balancer Services
Best for	Engineers needing powerful open-source proxying	Hybrid and multicloud enterprise delivery
Pricing model	Free	Paid
Starting price	Free plan	—
Free plan	✓ (best)	—
Free trial	—	—
Deployment	Self-hosted	Cloud, Self-hosted
Platforms	Windows, macOS, Linux	Web
Support	Community, Docs	Email, Phone, Tickets, Docs
Built for	Mid-market, Enterprise	Mid-market, Enterprise
Features Envoy Proxy 1/3 · F5 Distributed Cloud Load Balancing 3/3
TLS termination	✓	✓
Sticky sessions	Not checked yet	✓ (best)
DNS traffic steering	Not checked yet	✓ (best)
Specs
Balancing layers	Not checked yet	Both
Global regions	Not checked yet	Not checked yet
Backend target limit	Not checked yet	Not checked yet
Our review
Pros	Broad HTTP, HTTP/2, HTTP/3, gRPC and WebSocket support Advanced load balancing with retries, circuit breaking and health detection Static or dynamic xDS configuration with built-in observability	Balances Layer 4 and Layer 7 traffic with TLS termination and health checks Supports routing, failover, session persistence, and DNS-based global balancing Integrates load balancing with WAF, DDoS, API security, and bot protection
Cons	Self-managed deployment puts operations and maintenance on your team No vendor-hosted SaaS model or paid service tiers Cache documentation notes the cache filter is work-in-progress in some versions	Public list pricing is not published; buying requires contacting sales Essentials targets public-facing web apps, not the advanced hybrid/multicloud scope Enterprise adds advanced security and behavioral analysis, making it a broader fit
Our verdict	Envoy Proxy is open-source Layer 7 proxy software for modern service-oriented architectures. It can run as an edge proxy, service-mesh data plane or sidecar alongside application servers. Engineers can use it for HTTP routing and… Read the review →	F5 Distributed Cloud Load Balancing is a SaaS-based service for distributing application traffic across origins, sites, clusters, and cloud environments. It is aimed at mid-market and enterprise organizations managing public-facing and… Read the review →

Strengths and trade-offs

• Envoy Proxy — where it wins

  • Broad HTTP, HTTP/2, HTTP/3, gRPC and WebSocket support
  • Advanced load balancing with retries, circuit breaking and health detection
  • Static or dynamic xDS configuration with built-in observability

  Where it doesn't

  • Self-managed deployment puts operations and maintenance on your team
  • No vendor-hosted SaaS model or paid service tiers
  • Cache documentation notes the cache filter is work-in-progress in some versions

• F5 Distributed Cloud Load Balancing — where it wins

  • Balances Layer 4 and Layer 7 traffic with TLS termination and health checks
  • Supports routing, failover, session persistence, and DNS-based global balancing
  • Integrates load balancing with WAF, DDoS, API security, and bot protection

  Where it doesn't

  • Public list pricing is not published; buying requires contacting sales
  • Essentials targets public-facing web apps, not the advanced hybrid/multicloud scope
  • Enterprise adds advanced security and behavioral analysis, making it a broader fit

• Envoy Proxy8.5/10 · Free plan

  A capable self-hosted Layer 7 proxy for teams that want control over traffic management.

  Visit EnvoyFull verdict →
• F5 Distributed Cloud Load Balancing8.4/10 · Pricing on request

  Layer 4/7 balancing and global traffic steering for distributed application estates.

  Visit F5Full verdict →