Google Cloud Load Balancing vs Envoy Proxy

Google Cloud Load Balancing9.2Visit Envoy Proxy8.5Visit

Higher score Google Cloud Load Balancing #2 in Load Balancer Services 9.2/10 Paid ✓ 1 of 3 features Visit Google Cloud

vs

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

• Google Cloud Load Balancing fits best

  Global, multi-backend Google Cloud workloads

• Envoy Proxy fits best

  Engineers needing powerful open-source proxying

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Side by side

Feature	Google Cloud Load Balancing 9.2/10 Visit ↗	Envoy Proxy 8.5/10 Visit ↗
At a glance
Editor score	9.2	8.5
Ranking	#2 in Load Balancer Services	#7 in Load Balancer Services
Best for	Global, multi-backend Google Cloud workloads	Engineers needing powerful open-source proxying
Pricing model	Paid	Free
Starting price	$0.01/unit usage-based	Free plan
Free plan	Not checked yet	✓ (best)
Free trial	—	—
Deployment	Cloud	Self-hosted
Platforms	Web	Windows, macOS, Linux
Support	Docs	Community, Docs
Built for	Mid-market, Enterprise	Mid-market, Enterprise
Features Google Cloud Load Balancing 1/3 · Envoy Proxy 1/3
TLS termination	✓	✓
Sticky sessions	Not checked yet	Not checked yet
DNS traffic steering	Not checked yet	Not checked yet
Specs
Balancing layers	Not checked yet	Not checked yet
Global regions	Not checked yet	Not checked yet
Backend target limit	Not checked yet	Not checked yet
Our review
Pros	Supports Layer 4 and Layer 7 traffic distribution Works with VM, container, serverless, hybrid, and external backends Includes TLS termination, health checks, and session affinity	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
Cons	Usage-based pricing requires tracking forwarding rules and applicable charges Regional data-processing charges can apply in addition to forwarding rules A 50-backend limit applies to specified backend types per backend service	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
Our verdict	Google Cloud Load Balancing is a fully managed service for distributing application and network traffic across backend resources. It suits organizations running scalable, distributed applications across Google Cloud, other public clouds,… Read the review →	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 →

Strengths and trade-offs

• Google Cloud Load Balancing — where it wins

  • Supports Layer 4 and Layer 7 traffic distribution
  • Works with VM, container, serverless, hybrid, and external backends
  • Includes TLS termination, health checks, and session affinity

  Where it doesn't

  • Usage-based pricing requires tracking forwarding rules and applicable charges
  • Regional data-processing charges can apply in addition to forwarding rules
  • A 50-backend limit applies to specified backend types per backend service

• 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

• Google Cloud Load Balancing9.2/10 · Paid

  A broad managed load balancer for global, hybrid, and multi-backend workloads.

  Visit Google CloudFull verdict →
• Envoy Proxy8.5/10 · Free plan

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

  Visit EnvoyFull verdict →