HeliosProxy review
A deep self-hosted PostgreSQL proxy for teams building advanced traffic and failover control.
Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026
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 control than basic connection pooling. The product is available as a standalone binary, Docker container, or Kubernetes sidecar, with an embedded administration web console and REST endpoints for management.
Its strongest area is the depth of its traffic-management and availability toolkit. Connection pooling supports session, transaction, and statement modes, while query routing and read/write splitting help direct traffic between backends. Round-robin, least-connections, and latency-based load balancing are paired with continuous health monitoring, automatic failover, and primary tracking. Transaction replay after failover adds another layer for recovery workflows. Teams managing complex PostgreSQL topologies can also use time-travel traffic replay and zero-downtime PostgreSQL major-version upgrade orchestration. The WASM plugin runtime, with signed OCI-distributed plugins, extends the proxy beyond its built-in behavior.
HeliosProxy is a focused choice rather than a broad, multi-database proxy. Its stated scope is PostgreSQL-compatible databases, making it a stronger fit for PostgreSQL-centered infrastructure than for environments that need one proxy layer across unrelated database systems. Operations teams should also account for the responsibilities that come with self-hosting, including deployment and ongoing administration. HeliosProxy is published under Apache 2.0, and the published plans show it included with HeliosDB Lite and Full. Choose it when programmable routing, failover, replay, pooling, and upgrade control are central requirements; choose an alternative when managed deployment or broader database coverage matters more.
HeliosProxy pros and cons
- 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
HeliosProxy fact sheet, pricing and score →
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