OVN-Kubernetes vs Isovalent Enterprise for Cilium

OKOVN-Kubernetes8.8Visit Isovalent Enterprise for Cilium8.4Visit

Higher score OK OVN-Kubernetes #4 in Container Networking Software 8.8/10 Free plan Free plan✓ 4 of 5 features Visit OVN-Kubernetes

vs

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

• OVN-Kubernetes fits best

  Feature-rich Linux and Windows clusters

• Isovalent Enterprise for Cilium fits best

  Enterprise Cilium networking for self-hosted clusters

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Side by side

Feature	OKOVN-Kubernetes 8.8/10 Visit ↗	Isovalent Enterprise for Cilium 8.4/10 Visit ↗
At a glance
Editor score	8.8	8.4
Ranking	#4 in Container Networking Software	#7 in Container Networking Software
Best for	Feature-rich Linux and Windows clusters	Enterprise Cilium networking for self-hosted clusters
Pricing model	Free	Paid
Starting price	Free plan	Pricing on request
Free plan	✓ (best)	Not checked yet
Free trial	—	—
Deployment	Self-hosted	Cloud, Self-hosted
Support	Docs, Community	Docs
Built for	Mid-market, Enterprise	Mid-market, Enterprise
Features OVN-Kubernetes 4/5 · Isovalent Enterprise for Cilium 0/5
CNI plugin	✓ (best)	Not checked yet
Network policies	✓ (best)	Not checked yet
Egress control	✓ (best)	Not checked yet
Multi-cluster networking	Not checked yet	Not checked yet
Encryption in transit	✓ (best)	Not checked yet
Specs
Supported platforms	Kubernetes, Linux, Windows, bare metal, VMware vSphere, IBM Power, IBM Z, and Red Hat OpenStack Platform	Not checked yet
Our review
Pros	Free, open-source CNI with Kubernetes-conformant networking Policy, egress, multihoming, dual-stack, and IPsec support Supports hybrid Linux and Windows Kubernetes clusters	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	Focused on Kubernetes cluster networking rather than general-purpose networking OVN and Open vSwitch form a specialized networking foundation The broad feature set may exceed simple cluster requirements	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	OVN-Kubernetes is an open-source Kubernetes Container Network Interface plugin for cluster administrators managing pod and service traffic. Built on Open Virtual Network and Open vSwitch, it provides overlay networking, policy enforcement,… 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

• OVN-Kubernetes — where it wins

  • Free, open-source CNI with Kubernetes-conformant networking
  • Policy, egress, multihoming, dual-stack, and IPsec support
  • Supports hybrid Linux and Windows Kubernetes clusters

  Where it doesn't

  • Focused on Kubernetes cluster networking rather than general-purpose networking
  • OVN and Open vSwitch form a specialized networking foundation
  • The broad feature set may exceed simple cluster requirements

• 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

• OKOVN-Kubernetes8.8/10 · Free plan

  A feature-rich, free CNI for Kubernetes clusters spanning Linux and Windows.

  Visit OVN-KubernetesFull 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 →