# Cilium vs NGINX Service Mesh

**Leader by Vioscale score:** Cilium

| Attribute | Cilium | NGINX Service Mesh |
|---|---|---|
| **Vioscale score** | 62.8 (42% (low)) | 47.1 (48% (low)) |
| activity.commits_last_30d | 100 | - |
| adoption.dependent_repos | 103 | - |
| adoption.github_stars | 25,013 | - |
| deployment.options | `{"cloud":true,"self_hosted":true}` | `{"cloud":true,"hybrid":true,"self_hosted":true}` |
| description.long | 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. | 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,"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 |
| integrations.list | - | `[{"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/v1.20.1","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.scorecard | 5.8 | - |
| 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 | 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 | - | - |
| **Ops** |  |  |
| Commercial support / enterprise edition | - | ✓ |

*Source: Vioscale. Generated 2026-09-01T17:01:10.389Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*