Comparison

Azure Service Mesh vs Kuma

On the evidence we track, Kuma leads this comparison with a composite score of 52/100. Scores are only directly comparable because these tools share a category; the full breakdown and every source is below.

Azure Service Mesh full profile →Kuma full profile →

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Azure Service Mesh47

★Kuma52

Attribute comparison across 2 tools
Attribute	Azure Service Mesh	KumaLeader
Vioscale score	47 / 100low · 4%updating	52 / 100low · 36%updating
Pricing
Free tierpricing.free_tier	-	✓
Modelpricing.model	open_source	commercial
Price levelpricing.price_level	free	free
Transparentpricing.transparent	-	✗
Integrations
Countintegrations.count	-	4
Security
Disclosure policysecurity.disclosure_policy	-	✓
Gdprsecurity.gdpr	-	✓
Scorecardsecurity.scorecard	-	8.3
Vulnerabilitiessecurity.vulnerabilities	-	Count: 0 · Source: https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=go&package_name=github.com%2Fkumahq%2Fkuma%2Fpkg%2Ftransparentproxy%2Fistio&per_page=100 · Last 12m: 0
Reliability
Status pagereliability.status_page	✓	-
Adoption
Dependent reposadoption.dependent_repos	-	8
Github starsadoption.github_stars	-	3,995
Activity
Commits last 30dactivity.commits_last_30d	-	100
Release
Historyrelease.history	-	20 items
License
Spdxlicense.spdx	-	Apache-2.0
Language
Primarylanguage.primary	-	Go
Market
Availabilitymarket.availability	-	Available worldwide · HQ US

Score

Vioscale score

Azure Service Mesh47 / 100low · 4%updating

Kuma52 / 100low · 36%updating

Pricing

Free tier

Azure Service Mesh–

Kuma✓

Model

Azure Service Meshopen_source

Kumacommercial

Price level

Azure Service Meshfree

Kumafree

Transparent

Azure Service Mesh–

Kuma✗

Integrations

Count

Azure Service Mesh–

Kuma4

Security

Disclosure policy

Azure Service Mesh–

Kuma✓

Gdpr

Azure Service Mesh–

Kuma✓

Scorecard

Azure Service Mesh–

Kuma8.3

Vulnerabilities

Azure Service Mesh–

KumaCount: 0 · Source: https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=go&package_name=github.com%2Fkumahq%2Fkuma%2Fpkg%2Ftransparentproxy%2Fistio&per_page=100 · Last 12m: 0

Reliability

Status page

Azure Service Mesh✓

Kuma–

Adoption

Dependent repos

Azure Service Mesh–

Kuma8

Github stars

Azure Service Mesh–

Kuma3,995

Activity

Commits last 30d

Azure Service Mesh–

Kuma100

Release

History

Azure Service Mesh–

Kuma20 items

License

Spdx

Azure Service Mesh–

KumaApache-2.0

Language

Primary

Azure Service Mesh–

KumaGo

Market

Availability

Azure Service Mesh–

KumaAvailable worldwide · HQ US

Capabilities

Feature-by-feature on the axes that matter for service mesh. “-” means undocumented, not absent.

Capability comparison for Service Mesh
Capability	Azure Service Mesh	Kuma
Architecture
Data plane	Sidecar	Sidecar
Proxy	Envoy	Envoy
Security
Automatic mutual TLS	-	✓
SPIFFE / SPIRE identity	-	-
Traffic
Traffic splitting / canary	-	✓
Fault injection / resilience	-	✓
Scale
Multi-cluster federation	-	✓
Portability
VM support (beyond Kubernetes)	✓	✓
Observability
Built-in observability	-	✓
Standards
Gateway API / GAMMA support	-	✓
Extensibility
WASM extensibility	-	-
Compliance
FIPS mode	-	-
Ecosystem
CNCF maturity	Graduated	Sandbox
Ops
Commercial support / enterprise edition	-	✓

Architecture

Data plane

Azure Service MeshSidecar

KumaSidecar

Proxy

Azure Service MeshEnvoy

KumaEnvoy

Security

Automatic mutual TLS

Azure Service Mesh-

Kuma✓

SPIFFE / SPIRE identity

Azure Service Mesh-

Kuma-

Traffic

Traffic splitting / canary

Azure Service Mesh-

Kuma✓

Fault injection / resilience

Azure Service Mesh-

Kuma✓

Scale

Multi-cluster federation

Azure Service Mesh-

Kuma✓

Portability

VM support (beyond Kubernetes)

Azure Service Mesh✓

Kuma✓

Observability

Built-in observability

Azure Service Mesh-

Kuma✓

Standards

Gateway API / GAMMA support

Azure Service Mesh-

Kuma✓

Extensibility

WASM extensibility

Azure Service Mesh-

Kuma-

Compliance

FIPS mode

Azure Service Mesh-

Kuma-

Ecosystem

CNCF maturity

Azure Service MeshGraduated

KumaSandbox

Ops

Commercial support / enterprise edition

Azure Service Mesh-

Kuma✓

What each one is

The product in its own terms, so the numbers below have context.

Azure Service Mesh

Istio-based service mesh add-on for Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) that provides observability, traffic management, and security capabilities for distributed microservices architectures.

Independently observed

Kuma

Leader

Open-source control plane for service mesh delivering security, observability, routing and more. Built on Envoy with support for Kubernetes, VMs, and multi-cluster deployments.

Independently observed

Pricing

List pricing as published by each vendor, with the date we read it. Always verify at the source before you buy.

Azure Service Mesh

Open source

as of 2026-08-14verify ↗

Kuma

Leader

Open sourceFree tier

Open-source with enterprise offerings available (demo on request)

as of 2026-08-13verify ↗

Platform & deployment

Where each product runs and how it can be hosted. A dash means undocumented, not unsupported.

Platform and deployment support comparison
Supports	Azure Service Mesh	Kuma
WebPlatforms	-	✓
CLIPlatforms	-	✓
Cloud / SaaSDeployment	✓	✓
Self-hostedDeployment	✓	✓
On-premiseDeployment	✗	✓
HybridDeployment	✗	✓

Platforms

Web

Azure Service Mesh–

Kuma✓

CLI

Azure Service Mesh–

Kuma✓

Deployment

Cloud / SaaS

Azure Service Mesh✓

Kuma✓

Self-hosted

Azure Service Mesh✓

Kuma✓

On-premise

Azure Service Mesh✗

Kuma✓

Hybrid

Azure Service Mesh✗

Kuma✓

Integrations

What each product connects to. Counts come from the vendor's own integration directory where one exists.

Azure Service Mesh

Not documented yet.

Kuma

Leader

4 total

Prometheus
Grafana
Datadog
OpenTelemetry

Independently observed

Comparison generated from independently-sourced facts. Every value links to its source and retrieval date. See the method.