Comparison

Cilium vs MOSN

On the evidence we track, Cilium leads this comparison with a composite score of 56/100. Scores are only directly comparable because these tools share a category; the full breakdown and every source is below.

Cilium full profile →MOSN full profile →

Machine formatsMarkdownJSONGraphQLMarkdown is open. JSON and GraphQL need a free key.

★Cilium56

MOSN37

Attribute comparison across 2 tools
Attribute	CiliumLeader	MOSN
vioscaleAI score	56 / 100medium · 54%	37 / 100medium · 54%
Pricing
Free tierpricing.free_tier	✓	✓
Modelpricing.model	open_source	open_source
Price levelpricing.price_level	free	free
Transparentpricing.transparent	✓	-
Integrations
Countintegrations.count	3	3
Security
Scorecardsecurity.scorecard	5.8	3.3
Vulnerabilitiessecurity.vulnerabilities	Count: 39 · Source: https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=go&package_name=github.com%2Fcilium%2Fcilium&per_page=100 · Last 12m: 8 · Max severity: CRITICAL	Count: 1 · Source: https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=go&package_name=mosn.io%2Fmosn&per_page=100 · Last 12m: 0 · Max severity: CRITICAL
Adoption
Dependent reposadoption.dependent_repos	103	22
Github starsadoption.github_stars	25,603	4,508
Activity
Commits last 30dactivity.commits_last_30d	100	0
Release
Cadence daysrelease.cadence_days	5	62
Historyrelease.history	20 items	20 items
License
Spdxlicense.spdx	Apache-2.0	Apache-2.0
Language
Primarylanguage.primary	Go	Go
Content
Faqcontent.faq	6 items	6 items

Score

vioscaleAI score

Cilium56 / 100medium · 54%

MOSN37 / 100medium · 54%

Pricing

Free tier

Cilium✓

MOSN✓

Model

Ciliumopen_source

MOSNopen_source

Price level

Ciliumfree

MOSNfree

Transparent

Cilium✓

MOSN–

Integrations

Count

Cilium3

MOSN3

Security

Scorecard

Cilium5.8

MOSN3.3

Vulnerabilities

CiliumCount: 39 · Source: https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=go&package_name=github.com%2Fcilium%2Fcilium&per_page=100 · Last 12m: 8 · Max severity: CRITICAL

MOSNCount: 1 · Source: https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=go&package_name=mosn.io%2Fmosn&per_page=100 · Last 12m: 0 · Max severity: CRITICAL

Adoption

Dependent repos

Cilium103

MOSN22

Github stars

Cilium25,603

MOSN4,508

Activity

Commits last 30d

Cilium100

MOSN0

Release

Cadence days

Cilium5

MOSN62

History

Cilium20 items

MOSN20 items

License

Spdx

CiliumApache-2.0

MOSNApache-2.0

Language

Primary

CiliumGo

MOSNGo

Content

Faq

Cilium6 items

MOSN6 items

Capabilities

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

Capability comparison for Service Mesh
Capability	Cilium	MOSN
Architecture
Data plane	Sidecarless (eBPF)	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	-
Ops
Commercial support / enterprise edition	-	-

Architecture

Data plane

CiliumSidecarless (eBPF)

MOSNSidecar

Proxy

CiliumEnvoy

MOSNEnvoy

Security

Automatic mutual TLS

Cilium-

MOSN-

SPIFFE / SPIRE identity

Cilium✓

MOSN-

Traffic

Traffic splitting / canary

Cilium✓

MOSN✓

Fault injection / resilience

Cilium-

MOSN-

Scale

Multi-cluster federation

Cilium✓

MOSN✓

Portability

VM support (beyond Kubernetes)

Cilium-

MOSN✓

Observability

Built-in observability

Cilium✓

MOSN✓

Standards

Gateway API / GAMMA support

Cilium✓

MOSN-

Extensibility

WASM extensibility

Cilium-

MOSN✓

Compliance

FIPS mode

Cilium-

MOSN-

Ecosystem

CNCF maturity

CiliumGraduated

MOSN-

Ops

Commercial support / enterprise edition

Cilium-

MOSN-

What each one is

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

Cilium

Leader

Cilium is an open-source networking layer for Kubernetes that uses eBPF to provide container-to-container communication, load balancing, network policies, multi-cluster connectivity, and deep observability across single or multiple clusters.

Independently observed

MOSN

A Go-based, open-source network proxy that integrates with Istio to create service meshes and functions as a standalone load balancer, API gateway, and ingress controller.

Independently observed

Pricing

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

Cilium

Leader

Open sourceFree tier

as of 2026-08-13verify ↗

MOSN

Open source

as of 2026-10-13verify ↗

Platform & deployment

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

Platform and deployment support comparison
Supports	Cilium	MOSN
LinuxPlatforms	✓	✓
CLIPlatforms	✓	✓
Cloud / SaaSDeployment	✓	✓
Self-hostedDeployment	✓	✓
HybridDeployment	✓	✗

Platforms

Linux

Cilium✓

MOSN✓

CLI

Cilium✓

MOSN✓

Deployment

Cloud / SaaS

Cilium✓

MOSN✓

Self-hosted

Cilium✓

MOSN✓

Hybrid

Cilium✓

MOSN✗

Integrations

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

In common (2)

Envoy
Prometheus

Cilium

Leader

3 total - 1 not shared

SPIRE

Independently observed

MOSN

6 total - 4 not shared

Istio
Jaeger
Skywalking
Holmes

Independently observed

Still deciding?

Cilium or MOSN: which one depends on you

A composite score cannot know your constraints. Describe them and both get re-weighted against what you actually need, with the evidence behind every position.

Free to run, no account needed to start. How the evaluation works

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