ShardingSphere-Proxy vs HeliosProxy

ShardingSphere-Proxy9.0Visit HeliosProxy8.7Visit

Higher score ShardingSphere-Proxy #3 in Database Proxy Software 9.0/10 Free plan Free plan✓ 4 of 4 features Visit ShardingSphere

vs

HeliosProxy #5 in Database Proxy Software 8.7/10 Open source ✓ 4 of 4 features Visit HeliosProxy

• ShardingSphere-Proxy fits best

  Open-source multi-database proxy deployments

• HeliosProxy fits best

  Advanced PostgreSQL proxy engineering

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Side by side

Feature	ShardingSphere-Proxy 9.0/10 Visit ↗	HeliosProxy 8.7/10 Visit ↗
At a glance
Editor score	9.0	8.7
Ranking	#3 in Database Proxy Software	#5 in Database Proxy Software
Best for	Open-source multi-database proxy deployments	Advanced PostgreSQL proxy engineering
Pricing model	Free	Free
Starting price	Free plan	Open source
Free plan	✓ (best)	Not checked yet
Free trial	—	—
Deployment	Self-hosted	Self-hosted
Support	Community, Docs	Docs, Community
Built for	Mid-market, Enterprise	Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise
Features ShardingSphere-Proxy 4/4 · HeliosProxy 4/4
Connection pooling	✓	✓
Query routing	✓	✓
Load balancing	✓	✓
Automatic failover	✓	✓
Specs
Deployment model	Self-hosted	Self-hosted
Supported databases	MySQL, PostgreSQL, openGauss, Firebird	PostgreSQL-compatible databases
Maximum connections	Not checked yet	Not checked yet
Our review
Pros	Combines sharding, routing, pooling, and read/write splitting Supports failover, load balancing, migration, and distributed transactions Runs on Linux, Windows, and macOS with four protocol options	Session, transaction, and statement connection pooling modes Routing, load balancing, health monitoring, and automatic failover WASM plugins, traffic replay, and major-version upgrade orchestration
Cons	Self-hosted deployment requires teams to operate the proxy No commercial paid tiers for teams seeking a managed plan Protocol access centers on MySQL, PostgreSQL, openGauss, and Firebird	Self-hosted deployment requires customer-managed infrastructure Database support centers on PostgreSQL-compatible backends Advanced capabilities may require PostgreSQL proxy engineering expertise
Our verdict	ShardingSphere-Proxy is a self-hosted transparent database proxy in the Apache ShardingSphere ecosystem. It provides a common proxy endpoint for applications and database tools while applying rules for sharding, query routing, read/write… Read the review →	HeliosProxy is an open-source PostgreSQL data-plane for routing database connections and traffic between clients and PostgreSQL-compatible backends. It is designed for teams operating self-hosted PostgreSQL environments that need more… Read the review →

Strengths and trade-offs

• ShardingSphere-Proxy — where it wins

  • Combines sharding, routing, pooling, and read/write splitting
  • Supports failover, load balancing, migration, and distributed transactions
  • Runs on Linux, Windows, and macOS with four protocol options

  Where it doesn't

  • Self-hosted deployment requires teams to operate the proxy
  • No commercial paid tiers for teams seeking a managed plan
  • Protocol access centers on MySQL, PostgreSQL, openGauss, and Firebird

• HeliosProxy — where it wins

  • Session, transaction, and statement connection pooling modes
  • Routing, load balancing, health monitoring, and automatic failover
  • WASM plugins, traffic replay, and major-version upgrade orchestration

  Where it doesn't

  • Self-hosted deployment requires customer-managed infrastructure
  • Database support centers on PostgreSQL-compatible backends
  • Advanced capabilities may require PostgreSQL proxy engineering expertise

• ShardingSphere-Proxy9.0/10 · Free plan

  A self-hosted proxy for routing, scaling, and high availability across four database protocols.

  Visit ShardingSphereFull verdict →
• HeliosProxy8.7/10 · Open source

  A deep self-hosted PostgreSQL proxy for teams building advanced traffic and failover control.

  Visit HeliosProxyFull verdict →