Comparison

Linkerd vs Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh

On the evidence we track, Linkerd leads this comparison with a composite score of 64/100. Scores are only directly comparable because these tools share a category; the full breakdown and every source is below.

Machine formatsJSONMarkdownGraphQLor send Accept: application/json
Linkerd64
Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh51
Score
Vioscale score
Linkerd64 / 100low · 42%
Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh51 / 100low · 26%
Pricing
Free tier
Linkerd
Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh
Model
Linkerdcommercial
Red Hat OpenShift Service Meshcommercial
Price level
Linkerdfree
Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh
Transparent
Linkerd
Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh
Integrations
Count
Linkerd6
Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh8
Security
Disclosure policy
Linkerd
Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh
Scorecard
Linkerd8.2
Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh
Reliability
Status page
Linkerd
Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh
Adoption
Dependent repos
Linkerd19
Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh
Github stars
Linkerd11,481
Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh
Activity
Commits last 30d
Linkerd56
Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh
Release
Cadence days
Linkerd7
Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh
History
Linkerd20 items
Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh
License
Spdx
LinkerdApache-2.0
Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh
Language
Primary
LinkerdGo
Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh

Capabilities

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

Architecture
Data plane
LinkerdSidecar
Red Hat OpenShift Service MeshSidecar
Proxy
Linkerdlinkerd2-proxy
Red Hat OpenShift Service MeshEnvoy
Security
Automatic mutual TLS
Linkerd
Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh
SPIFFE / SPIRE identity
Linkerd-
Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh-
Traffic
Traffic splitting / canary
Linkerd
Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh
Fault injection / resilience
Linkerd
Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh-
Scale
Multi-cluster federation
Linkerd
Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh
Portability
VM support (beyond Kubernetes)
Linkerd
Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh-
Observability
Built-in observability
Linkerd
Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh
Standards
Gateway API / GAMMA support
Linkerd
Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh-
Extensibility
WASM extensibility
Linkerd-
Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh-
Compliance
FIPS mode
Linkerd-
Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh-
Ecosystem
CNCF maturity
LinkerdGraduated
Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh-
Ops
Commercial support / enterprise edition
Linkerd
Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh

What each one is

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

Linkerd

Leader

An open-source service mesh for Kubernetes written in Rust that automatically provides mutual TLS encryption, traffic management, and built-in observability to applications. It emphasizes simplicity and performance compared to alternative meshes.

Independently observed

Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh

Not documented yet.

Pricing

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

Linkerd

Leader
Open sourceFree tier
as of verify ↗

Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh

Pricing not documented yet.

Platform & deployment

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

Platforms
Web
Linkerd
Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh
CLI
Linkerd
Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh
Deployment
Cloud / SaaS
Linkerd
Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh
Self-hosted
Linkerd
Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh
On-premise
Linkerd
Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh

Integrations

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

Linkerd

Leader
6 total
  • Prometheus
  • Grafana
  • Argo CD
  • Jaeger
  • Helm
  • Gateway API
Independently observed

Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh

8 total
  • Istio
  • Envoy
  • Kiali
  • Red Hat Connectivity Link
  • Red Hat OpenShift Observability
  • cert-manager Operator for Red Hat OpenShift
  • Red Hat OpenShift Gitops
  • Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization
Independently observed

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