# AWS App Mesh vs Cilium

| Attribute | AWS App Mesh | Cilium |
|---|---|---|
| **Vioscale score** | 64.7 (63% (medium)) | 62.8 (42% (low)) |
| activity.commits_last_30d | - | 100 |
| adoption.dependent_repos | - | 103 |
| adoption.github_stars | - | 25,013 |
| deployment.options | `{"cloud":true}` | `{"cloud":true,"self_hosted":true}` |
| description.long | AWS App Mesh is an application networking service that provides consistent visibility and network traffic controls for microservices. It uses sidecar proxies to manage service communication, observability, and security without requiring application code changes. | 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. |
| features.capabilities | `{"data_plane":"sidecar","cncf_maturity":"none","automatic_mtls":true,"traffic_splitting":true,"commercial_support":true,"built_in_observability":true}` | `{"proxy":"envoy","data_plane":"sidecarless_ebpf","multicluster":true,"gateway_api_support":true,"built_in_observability":true}` |
| language.primary | - | Go |
| license.spdx | - | Apache-2.0 |
| market.availability | `{"primaryMarkets":["US"],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` | - |
| platform.support | - | `{"cli":true,"linux":true}` |
| pricing | `{"type":"usage","summary":"Pay-as-you-go usage-based pricing; specific pricing rates not disclosed on provided pages","currency":"USD","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://aws.amazon.com/pricing/?nc2=h_pr_pr","retrievedAt":"2026-08-13T16:50:07.963Z"}` | `{"type":"open_source","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://cilium.io","retrievedAt":"2026-08-13T09:27:47.184Z"}` |
| pricing.free_tier | yes | yes |
| pricing.model | freemium | open_source |
| pricing.price_level | low | free |
| pricing.transparent | no | yes |
| release.cadence_days | - | 5 |
| release.history | - | `[{"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"},{"url":"https://github.com/cilium/cilium/releases/tag/v1.19.4","date":"2026-05-13T18:44:03Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.19.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/cilium/cilium/releases/tag/v1.18.10","date":"2026-05-13T18:43:12Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.18.10"},{"url":"https://github.com/cilium/cilium/releases/tag/v1.17.16","date":"2026-05-13T18:43:36Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.17.16"},{"url":"https://github.com/cilium/cilium/releases/tag/v1.20.0-pre.2","date":"2026-05-04T23:42:00Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v1.20.0-pre.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/cilium/cilium/releases/tag/v1.19.3","date":"2026-04-15T21:06:02Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.19.3"}]` |
| reliability.status_page | yes | - |
| security.disclosure_policy | yes | - |
| security.fedramp | yes | - |
| security.gdpr | yes | - |
| security.hipaa | yes | - |
| security.iso27001 | yes | - |
| security.pci | yes | - |
| security.scorecard | - | 5.8 |
| security.soc2 | yes | - |
| security.vulnerabilities | - | `{"count":37,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=go&package_name=github.com%2Fcilium%2Fcilium&per_page=100","last_12m":6,"max_severity":"CRITICAL"}` |

## Capabilities (Service Mesh)

| Capability | AWS App Mesh | Cilium |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **Architecture** |  |  |
| Data plane | Sidecar | Sidecarless (eBPF) |
| Proxy | - | 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 | None | - |
| **Ops** |  |  |
| Commercial support / enterprise edition | ✓ | - |

*Source: Vioscale. Generated 2026-09-01T15:17:54.576Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*