Comparison

Kuma vs NGINX Service Mesh

On the evidence we track, Kuma leads this comparison with a composite score of 53/100. Scores are only directly comparable because these tools share a category; the full breakdown and every source is below.

Kuma full profile →NGINX Service Mesh full profile →

Machine formatsJSON Markdown GraphQLor send Accept: application/json

★Kuma53

NGINX Service Mesh47

Attribute comparison across 2 tools
Attribute	KumaLeader	NGINX Service Mesh
Vioscale score	53 / 100low · 36%	47 / 100low · 48%
Pricing
Free tierpricing.free_tier	✓	✓
Modelpricing.model	commercial	commercial
Price levelpricing.price_level	free	low
Transparentpricing.transparent	✗	✗
Integrations
Countintegrations.count	4	3
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

Kuma53 / 100low · 36%

NGINX Service Mesh47 / 100low · 48%

Pricing

Free tier

Kuma✓

NGINX Service Mesh✓

Model

Kumacommercial

NGINX Service Meshcommercial

Price level

Kumafree

NGINX Service Meshlow

Transparent

Kuma✗

NGINX Service Mesh✗

Integrations

Count

Kuma4

NGINX Service Mesh3

Security

Disclosure policy

Kuma✓

NGINX Service Mesh–

Gdpr

Kuma✓

NGINX Service Mesh–

Scorecard

Kuma8.3

NGINX Service Mesh–

Vulnerabilities

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

NGINX Service Mesh–

Reliability

Status page

Kuma–

NGINX Service Mesh✓

Adoption

Dependent repos

Kuma8

NGINX Service Mesh–

Github stars

Kuma3,995

NGINX Service Mesh–

Activity

Commits last 30d

Kuma100

NGINX Service Mesh–

Release

History

Kuma20 items

NGINX Service Mesh–

License

Spdx

KumaApache-2.0

NGINX Service Mesh–

Language

Primary

KumaGo

NGINX Service Mesh–

Market

Availability

KumaAvailable worldwide · HQ US

NGINX Service Mesh–

Capabilities

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

Capability comparison for Service Mesh
Capability	Kuma	NGINX Service Mesh
Architecture
Data plane	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

KumaSidecar

NGINX Service Mesh-

Proxy

KumaEnvoy

NGINX Service MeshEnvoy

Security

Automatic mutual TLS

Kuma✓

NGINX Service Mesh-

SPIFFE / SPIRE identity

Kuma-

NGINX Service Mesh-

Traffic

Traffic splitting / canary

Kuma✓

NGINX Service Mesh-

Fault injection / resilience

Kuma✓

NGINX Service Mesh-

Scale

Multi-cluster federation

Kuma✓

NGINX Service Mesh✓

Portability

VM support (beyond Kubernetes)

Kuma✓

NGINX Service Mesh-

Observability

Built-in observability

Kuma✓

NGINX Service Mesh✓

Standards

Gateway API / GAMMA support

Kuma✓

NGINX Service Mesh✓

Extensibility

WASM extensibility

Kuma-

NGINX Service Mesh-

Compliance

FIPS mode

Kuma-

NGINX Service Mesh-

Ecosystem

CNCF maturity

KumaSandbox

NGINX Service Mesh-

Ops

Commercial support / enterprise edition

Kuma✓

NGINX Service Mesh✓

What each one is

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

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

NGINX Service Mesh

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.

Independently observed

Pricing

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

Kuma

Leader

Open sourceFree tier

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

as of 2026-08-13verify ↗

NGINX Service Mesh

SubscriptionFree tier

Subscription and flex consumption models available. Free trials offered.

as of 2026-08-03verify ↗

Platform & deployment

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

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

Platforms

Web

Kuma✓

NGINX Service Mesh✗

Linux

Kuma✗

NGINX Service Mesh✓

CLI

Kuma✓

NGINX Service Mesh✓

Deployment

Cloud / SaaS

Kuma✓

NGINX Service Mesh✓

Self-hosted

Kuma✓

NGINX Service Mesh✓

On-premise

Kuma✓

NGINX Service Mesh✗

Hybrid

Kuma✓

NGINX Service Mesh✓

Integrations

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

Kuma

Leader

4 total

Prometheus
Grafana
Datadog
OpenTelemetry

Independently observed

NGINX Service Mesh

3 total

Azure
Google Cloud
Kubernetes

Independently observed

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