# Cilium vs NGINX Service Mesh

**Leader by vioscaleAI score:** Cilium

| Attribute | Cilium | NGINX Service Mesh |
|---|---|---|
| **vioscaleAI score** | 55.8 (54% (medium)) | 47.8 (48% (low)) |
| activity.commits_last_30d | 100 | - |
| adoption.dependent_repos | 103 | - |
| adoption.github_stars | 25,603 | - |
| content.faq | `[{"answer":"A cloud-native networking and security platform that uses eBPF to provide networking, observability, and security capabilities. Built for Kubernetes and cloud infrastructure with integrated observability via Hubble. It is indexed under Service Mesh.","source":"https://cilium.io","question":"What is Cilium?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Cilium is open source, so it can be self-hosted and used at no licence cost. It is released under the Apache-2.0 licence. Pricing changes often, so verify at source before relying on it.","source":"https://cilium.io","question":"Is Cilium free to use?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Cilium supports Linux and a command-line interface. Platforms we have not confirmed are simply not listed here rather than ruled out.","source":"https://cilium.io","question":"What platforms does Cilium support?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. Cilium can be deployed cloud / SaaS and self-hosted, so it does not have to run on the vendor's infrastructure.","source":"https://cilium.io","question":"Can Cilium be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have confirmed 3 integrations for Cilium, including SPIRE, Envoy and Prometheus. This is what we could verify from public sources, so the vendor may support others we have not indexed.","source":"https://cilium.io","question":"What does Cilium integrate with?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. Cilium is published under the Apache-2.0 licence, a permissive licence that generally allows commercial use and modification. Licence terms can change between releases, so verify against the repository for the version you intend to use.","source":"https://github.com/cilium/cilium","question":"Is Cilium open source?","confidence":0.95}]` | `[{"answer":"F5 NGINX delivers, secures, and scales apps, APIs, Kubernetes services, and AI workloads through a lightweight, high-performance solution designed for distributed, hybrid multi-cloud environments. Standardizes traffic routing, security, and observability across environments. It is indexed under Service Mesh.","source":"https://www.nginx.com/products/nginx-service-mesh/","question":"What is NGINX Service Mesh?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"NGINX Service Mesh offers a free tier, so you can start without paying. Pricing changes often, so verify at source before relying on it.","source":"https://www.nginx.com/products/nginx-service-mesh/","question":"Is NGINX Service Mesh free?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"NGINX Service Mesh supports Linux and a command-line interface. Platforms we have not confirmed are simply not listed here rather than ruled out.","source":"https://www.nginx.com/products/nginx-service-mesh/","question":"What platforms does NGINX Service Mesh support?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. NGINX Service Mesh can be deployed cloud / SaaS, hybrid and self-hosted, so it does not have to run on the vendor's infrastructure.","source":"https://www.nginx.com/products/nginx-service-mesh/","question":"Can NGINX Service Mesh be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have confirmed 3 integrations for NGINX Service Mesh, including Azure, Google Cloud and Kubernetes. This is what we could verify from public sources, so the vendor may support others we have not indexed.","source":"https://www.nginx.com/products/nginx-service-mesh/","question":"What does NGINX Service Mesh integrate with?","confidence":0.6}]` |
| deployment.options | `{"cloud":true,"hybrid":true,"self_hosted":true}` | `{"cloud":true,"hybrid":true,"self_hosted":true}` |
| description.long | 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. | F5 NGINX delivers, secures, and scales apps, APIs, Kubernetes services, and AI workloads through a lightweight, high-performance solution designed for distributed, hybrid multi-cloud environments. Standardizes traffic routing, security, and observability across environments. |
| features.capabilities | `{"proxy":"envoy","data_plane":"sidecarless_ebpf","multicluster":true,"cncf_maturity":"graduated","spiffe_identity":true,"traffic_splitting":true,"gateway_api_support":true,"built_in_observability":true}` | `{"proxy":"envoy","multicluster":true,"commercial_support":true,"gateway_api_support":true,"built_in_observability":true}` |
| integrations.count | 3 | 3 |
| integrations.list | `[{"name":"SPIRE","native":false,"category":"identity","direction":"inbound"},{"name":"Envoy","native":false,"category":"proxy"},{"name":"Prometheus","native":false,"category":"monitoring","direction":"outbound"}]` | `[{"name":"Azure"},{"name":"Google Cloud"},{"name":"Kubernetes"}]` |
| language.primary | Go | - |
| license.spdx | Apache-2.0 | - |
| platform.support | `{"cli":true,"linux":true}` | `{"cli":true,"linux":true}` |
| pricing | `{"type":"open_source","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://cilium.io","retrievedAt":"2026-08-13T09:27:47.184Z"}` | `{"type":"subscription","summary":"Subscription and flex consumption models available. Free trials offered.","currency":"USD","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://www.nginx.com/products/nginx-service-mesh/","retrievedAt":"2026-08-03T13:09:44.036Z"}` |
| pricing.free_tier | yes | yes |
| pricing.model | open_source | commercial |
| pricing.price_level | free | low |
| pricing.transparent | yes | no |
| release.cadence_days | 5 | - |
| release.history | `[{"url":"https://github.com/cilium/cilium/releases/tag/v1.21.0-pre.3","date":"2026-10-02T19:04:57Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v1.21.0-pre.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/cilium/cilium/releases/tag/v1.20.2","date":"2026-09-16T01:53:22Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.20.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/cilium/cilium/releases/tag/v1.19.8","date":"2026-09-16T01:53:16Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.19.8"},{"url":"https://github.com/cilium/cilium/releases/tag/v1.18.14","date":"2026-09-16T01:53:07Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.18.14"},{"url":"https://github.com/cilium/cilium/releases/tag/v1.21.0-pre.2","date":"2026-09-09T11:50:23Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v1.21.0-pre.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/cilium/cilium/releases/tag/v1.20.1","date":"2026-08-18T10:36:16Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.20.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/cilium/cilium/releases/tag/v1.19.7","date":"2026-08-18T10:35:54Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.19.7"},{"url":"https://github.com/cilium/cilium/releases/tag/v1.18.13","date":"2026-08-18T10:35:40Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.18.13"},{"url":"https://github.com/cilium/cilium/releases/tag/v1.21.0-pre.0","date":"2026-08-03T19:58:45Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v1.21.0-pre.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/cilium/cilium/releases/tag/v1.20.0","date":"2026-07-29T15:00:29Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.20.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/cilium/cilium/releases/tag/v1.20.0-rc.1","date":"2026-07-21T23:28:11Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v1.20.0-rc.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/cilium/cilium/releases/tag/v1.19.6","date":"2026-07-16T22:52:21Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.19.6"},{"url":"https://github.com/cilium/cilium/releases/tag/v1.18.12","date":"2026-07-16T22:47:50Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.18.12"},{"url":"https://github.com/cilium/cilium/releases/tag/v1.17.18","date":"2026-07-16T22:47:26Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.17.18"},{"url":"https://github.com/cilium/cilium/releases/tag/v1.20.0-rc.0","date":"2026-07-14T02:52:53Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v1.20.0-rc.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/cilium/cilium/releases/tag/v1.20.0-pre.4","date":"2026-07-03T20:50:44Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v1.20.0-pre.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/cilium/cilium/releases/tag/v1.19.5","date":"2026-06-16T12:25:41Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.19.5"},{"url":"https://github.com/cilium/cilium/releases/tag/v1.18.11","date":"2026-06-16T12:22:23Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.18.11"},{"url":"https://github.com/cilium/cilium/releases/tag/v1.17.17","date":"2026-06-16T12:22:05Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.17.17"},{"url":"https://github.com/cilium/cilium/releases/tag/v1.20.0-pre.3","date":"2026-06-02T00:41:32Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v1.20.0-pre.3"}]` | - |
| reliability.status_page | - | yes |
| security.scorecard | 5.8 | - |
| security.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"}` | - |

## Capabilities (Service Mesh)

| Capability | Cilium | NGINX Service Mesh |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **Architecture** |  |  |
| Data plane | Sidecarless (eBPF) | - |
| 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 | - | ✓ |

*Source: vioscaleAI. Generated 2026-10-16T18:33:42.035Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*