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Comparison

Cilium vs Google Cloud Service Mesh

On the evidence we track, Cilium leads this comparison with a composite score of 74/100. Scores are only directly comparable because these tools share a category; the full breakdown and every source is below.

Cilium full profile →Google Cloud Service Mesh full profile →
Machine formatsJSONMarkdownGraphQLor send Accept: application/json
Attribute comparison across 2 tools
Attribute74CiliumLeader70Google Cloud Service Mesh
Vioscale score74 / 100low · 16%70 / 100low · 30%
Commits last 30d100-
Github stars24,837-
Options{"self_hosted":true}{"cloud":true,"hybrid":true,"on_prem":true}
LongCilium is an open source, cloud native solution for providing, securing, and observing network connectivity between workloads, fueled by the revolutionary Kernel technology eBPF.Cloud Service Mesh is a fully managed service mesh that provides service networking, traffic management, and security across hybrid and multicloud deployments. It supports VMs, containers, and serverless workloads with zero-trust security, fault injection, and built-in observability.
Capabilities{"proxy":"ebpf","data_plane":"sidecarless_ebpf","multicluster":true,"cncf_maturity":"graduated","commercial_support":true,"gateway_api_support":true,"built_in_observability":true}{"proxy":"envoy","data_plane":"sidecar","vm_support":true,"automatic_mtls":true,"fault_injection":true,"traffic_splitting":true,"commercial_support":true,"built_in_observability":true}
PrimaryGo-
SpdxApache-2.0-
Pricing{"type":"open_source","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://cilium.io","retrievedAt":"2026-08-01T15:34:37.516Z"}{"type":"usage","plans":[{"free":false,"name":"Pay-as-you-go","summary":"$0.50/client/month (~$0.0006945/hour)","features":["Telemetry dashboards","Cloud Service Mesh standard metrics","Managed control plane","Mesh CA (managed certificate authority)"],"commitment":"monthly","components":[{"per":{"qty":1,"unit":"hour per client"},"kind":"metered","amount":0.0006945,"currency":"USD"}],"description":"Per-client metered pricing","contactSales":false}],"summary":"From $0.50/client/month. Free trial available.","currency":"USD","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://cloud.google.com/service-mesh","retrievedAt":"2026-08-03T13:00:05.169Z","startingPrice":{"amount":0.0006945,"period":"month","currency":"USD"},"billingPeriods":["month"]}
Free tierYesYes
Modelopen_sourcecommercial
Price levelfreelow
Starting gbp-0.001
Transparent-Yes
Cadence days5-
Status page-Yes

Capabilities

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

Capability comparison for Service Mesh
CapabilityCiliumGoogle Cloud Service Mesh
Architecture
Data planeSidecarless (eBPF)Sidecar
ProxyeBPFEnvoy
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 maturityGraduated-
Ops
Commercial support / enterprise edition✓✓

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

Cilium vs Google Cloud Service Mesh: an evidence-based comparison · Vioscale