Comparison

Google Cloud Service Mesh vs Kuma

On the evidence we track, Google Cloud Service Mesh leads this comparison with a composite score of 69/100. Scores are only directly comparable because these tools share a category; the full breakdown and every source is below.

Google Cloud Service Mesh full profile →Kuma full profile →

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★Google Cloud Service Mesh69

Kuma53

Attribute comparison across 2 tools
Attribute	Google Cloud Service MeshLeader	Kuma
Vioscale score	69 / 100low · 41%	53 / 100low · 36%
Pricing
Free tierpricing.free_tier	✓	✓
Modelpricing.model	freemium	commercial
Price levelpricing.price_level	low	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

Google Cloud Service Mesh69 / 100low · 41%

Kuma53 / 100low · 36%

Pricing

Free tier

Google Cloud Service Mesh✓

Kuma✓

Model

Google Cloud Service Meshfreemium

Kumacommercial

Price level

Google Cloud Service Meshlow

Kumafree

Transparent

Google Cloud Service Mesh✓

Kuma✗

Integrations

Count

Google Cloud Service Mesh–

Kuma4

Security

Disclosure policy

Google Cloud Service Mesh–

Kuma✓

Gdpr

Google Cloud Service Mesh–

Kuma✓

Scorecard

Google Cloud Service Mesh–

Kuma8.3

Vulnerabilities

Google Cloud 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

Google Cloud Service Mesh✓

Kuma–

Adoption

Dependent repos

Google Cloud Service Mesh–

Kuma8

Github stars

Google Cloud Service Mesh–

Kuma3,995

Activity

Commits last 30d

Google Cloud Service Mesh–

Kuma100

Release

History

Google Cloud Service Mesh–

Kuma20 items

License

Spdx

Google Cloud Service Mesh–

KumaApache-2.0

Language

Primary

Google Cloud Service Mesh–

KumaGo

Market

Availability

Google Cloud 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	Google Cloud 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	-	Sandbox
Ops
Commercial support / enterprise edition	✓	✓

Architecture

Data plane

Google Cloud Service MeshSidecar

KumaSidecar

Proxy

Google Cloud Service MeshEnvoy

KumaEnvoy

Security

Automatic mutual TLS

Google Cloud Service Mesh✓

Kuma✓

SPIFFE / SPIRE identity

Google Cloud Service Mesh-

Kuma-

Traffic

Traffic splitting / canary

Google Cloud Service Mesh✓

Kuma✓

Fault injection / resilience

Google Cloud Service Mesh✓

Kuma✓

Scale

Multi-cluster federation

Google Cloud Service Mesh-

Kuma✓

Portability

VM support (beyond Kubernetes)

Google Cloud Service Mesh✓

Kuma✓

Observability

Built-in observability

Google Cloud Service Mesh✓

Kuma✓

Standards

Gateway API / GAMMA support

Google Cloud Service Mesh-

Kuma✓

Extensibility

WASM extensibility

Google Cloud Service Mesh-

Kuma-

Compliance

FIPS mode

Google Cloud Service Mesh-

Kuma-

Ecosystem

CNCF maturity

Google Cloud Service Mesh-

KumaSandbox

Ops

Commercial support / enterprise edition

Google Cloud Service Mesh✓

Kuma✓

What each one is

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

Google Cloud Service Mesh

Leader

A fully managed service mesh platform that unifies service mesh across VMs, containers, and serverless applications with traffic management, security, and fault injection capabilities.

Independently observed

Kuma

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.

Google Cloud Service Mesh

Leader

from $0.00/moUsage-basedFree tier

From $0.50/client/month. Free trial available.

Pay-as-you-go$0.50/client/month (~$0.0006945/hour)
- Telemetry dashboards
- Cloud Service Mesh standard metrics
- Managed control plane
- Mesh CA (managed certificate authority)

as of 2026-08-03verify ↗

Kuma

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	Google Cloud Service Mesh	Kuma
WebPlatforms	✓	✓
CLIPlatforms	✗	✓
Cloud / SaaSDeployment	✓	✓
Self-hostedDeployment	✗	✓
On-premiseDeployment	✓	✓
HybridDeployment	✓	✓

Platforms

Web

Google Cloud Service Mesh✓

Kuma✓

CLI

Google Cloud Service Mesh✗

Kuma✓

Deployment

Cloud / SaaS

Google Cloud Service Mesh✓

Kuma✓

Self-hosted

Google Cloud Service Mesh✗

Kuma✓

On-premise

Google Cloud Service Mesh✓

Kuma✓

Hybrid

Google Cloud Service Mesh✓

Kuma✓

Integrations

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

Google Cloud Service Mesh

Leader

Not documented yet.

Kuma

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.