# Consul vs Open Service Mesh

**Leader by Vioscale score:** Consul

| Attribute | Consul | Open Service Mesh |
|---|---|---|
| **Vioscale score** | 66.2 (51% (medium)) | 38.8 (54% (medium)) |
| activity.commits_last_30d | 23 | 0 |
| adoption.dependent_repos | 67,699 | 15 |
| adoption.github_stars | 30,043 | 2,551 |
| deployment.options | `{"cloud":true,"on_prem":true,"self_hosted":true}` | `{"self_hosted":true}` |
| description.long | Consul provides service mesh, service discovery, API gateway, health checking, and dynamic configuration management for applications across distributed infrastructure. Available in open-source and enterprise editions. | Manages traffic, enforces access policies, and provides operational visibility for microservices running in Kubernetes clusters. Emphasizes simplicity in installation and maintenance through standardized configuration interfaces. |
| features.capabilities | `{"data_plane":"sidecar","vm_support":true,"multicluster":true,"automatic_mtls":true,"commercial_support":true,"gateway_api_support":true,"built_in_observability":true}` | `{"proxy":"envoy","fips_mode":true,"data_plane":"sidecar","automatic_mtls":true,"traffic_splitting":true,"built_in_observability":true}` |
| integrations.count | - | 8 |
| integrations.list | - | `[{"name":"Envoy"},{"name":"Linkerd"},{"name":"Istio"},{"name":"Consul"},{"name":"Kuma"},{"name":"Helm"},{"name":"SMI specification"},{"name":"external certificate management systems"}]` |
| language.primary | Go | Go |
| license.spdx | - | Apache-2.0 |
| market.availability | - | `{"primaryMarkets":[],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` |
| platform.support | `{"cli":true,"mac":true,"linux":true,"windows":true}` | `{"cli":true,"linux":true}` |
| pricing | - | `{"type":"open_source","sourceUrl":"https://openservicemesh.io/","retrievedAt":"2026-08-16T21:31:56.824Z"}` |
| pricing.free_tier | - | yes |
| pricing.model | commercial | open_source |
| pricing.price_level | - | free |
| release.cadence_days | 8 | 12 |
| release.history | `[{"url":"https://github.com/hashicorp/consul/releases/tag/v2.0.3","date":"2026-08-07T17:25:55Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.0.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/hashicorp/consul/releases/tag/v2.0.2","date":"2026-07-08T10:39:04Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.0.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/hashicorp/consul/releases/tag/v2.0.1","date":"2026-06-19T07:23:26Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.0.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/hashicorp/consul/releases/tag/v2.0.0","date":"2026-05-24T05:55:03Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.0.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/hashicorp/consul/releases/tag/v2.0.0-rc2","date":"2026-05-15T11:56:11Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v2.0.0-rc2"},{"url":"https://github.com/hashicorp/consul/releases/tag/v2.0.0-rc1","date":"2026-04-29T17:34:24Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v2.0.0-rc1"},{"url":"https://github.com/hashicorp/consul/releases/tag/v1.22.7","date":"2026-04-25T07:38:41Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.22.7"},{"url":"https://github.com/hashicorp/consul/releases/tag/v1.22.6","date":"2026-03-26T10:44:17Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.22.6"},{"url":"https://github.com/hashicorp/consul/releases/tag/v1.22.5","date":"2026-02-27T07:18:14Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.22.5"},{"url":"https://github.com/hashicorp/consul/releases/tag/v1.22.4","date":"2026-02-19T05:41:59Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.22.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/hashicorp/consul/releases/tag/v1.22.3","date":"2026-01-23T04:32:07Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.22.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/hashicorp/consul/releases/tag/v1.22.2","date":"2025-12-17T11:57:33Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.22.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/hashicorp/consul/releases/tag/ent-changelog-1.22.0","date":"2025-12-02T02:25:41Z","type":"stable","version":"ent-changelog-1.22.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/hashicorp/consul/releases/tag/ent-changelog-1.20.9","date":"2025-12-02T02:25:20Z","type":"stable","version":"ent-changelog-1.20.9"},{"url":"https://github.com/hashicorp/consul/releases/tag/ent-changelog-1.20.8","date":"2025-12-02T02:25:17Z","type":"stable","version":"ent-changelog-1.20.8"},{"url":"https://github.com/hashicorp/consul/releases/tag/ent-changelog-1.20.13","date":"2025-12-02T02:25:37Z","type":"stable","version":"ent-changelog-1.20.13"},{"url":"https://github.com/hashicorp/consul/releases/tag/ent-changelog-1.20.12","date":"2025-12-02T02:25:33Z","type":"stable","version":"ent-changelog-1.20.12"},{"url":"https://github.com/hashicorp/consul/releases/tag/ent-changelog-1.20.11","date":"2025-12-02T02:25:29Z","type":"stable","version":"ent-changelog-1.20.11"},{"url":"https://github.com/hashicorp/consul/releases/tag/ent-changelog-1.20.10","date":"2025-12-02T02:25:25Z","type":"stable","version":"ent-changelog-1.20.10"},{"url":"https://github.com/hashicorp/consul/releases/tag/ent-changelog-1.20.0","date":"2025-12-02T02:25:13Z","type":"stable","version":"ent-changelog-1.20.0"}]` | `[{"url":"https://github.com/openservicemesh/osm/releases/tag/v1.2.4","date":"2023-04-20T21:24:44Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.2.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/openservicemesh/osm/releases/tag/v1.1.4","date":"2023-04-20T21:15:41Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.1.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/openservicemesh/osm/releases/tag/v1.2.3","date":"2022-12-14T23:49:10Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.2.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/openservicemesh/osm/releases/tag/v1.2.2","date":"2022-10-21T19:08:53Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.2.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/openservicemesh/osm/releases/tag/v1.1.3","date":"2022-10-20T21:42:09Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.1.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/openservicemesh/osm/releases/tag/v1.2.1","date":"2022-09-07T00:12:04Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.2.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/openservicemesh/osm/releases/tag/v1.1.2","date":"2022-09-06T23:42:09Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.1.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/openservicemesh/osm/releases/tag/v1.2.0","date":"2022-07-20T21:58:57Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.2.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/openservicemesh/osm/releases/tag/v1.2.0-rc.1","date":"2022-07-12T19:43:08Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v1.2.0-rc.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/openservicemesh/osm/releases/tag/v1.1.1","date":"2022-05-10T16:14:18Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.1.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/openservicemesh/osm/releases/tag/v1.1.1-rc.1","date":"2022-05-04T21:17:30Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v1.1.1-rc.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/openservicemesh/osm/releases/tag/v1.1.0","date":"2022-04-14T19:48:42Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.1.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/openservicemesh/osm/releases/tag/v1.1.0-rc.1","date":"2022-04-04T21:57:23Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v1.1.0-rc.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/openservicemesh/osm/releases/tag/v1.0.0","date":"2022-02-01T19:20:43Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.0.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/openservicemesh/osm/releases/tag/v1.0.0-rc.4","date":"2022-01-19T22:38:08Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v1.0.0-rc.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/openservicemesh/osm/releases/tag/v1.0.0-rc.3","date":"2022-01-10T19:20:43Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v1.0.0-rc.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/openservicemesh/osm/releases/tag/v1.0.0-rc.2","date":"2021-11-15T17:26:39Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v1.0.0-rc.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/openservicemesh/osm/releases/tag/v0.11.1","date":"2021-10-20T20:37:49Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.11.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/openservicemesh/osm/releases/tag/v0.11.1-rc.1","date":"2021-10-15T23:22:02Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v0.11.1-rc.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/openservicemesh/osm/releases/tag/v1.0.0-rc.1","date":"2021-10-13T18:17:50Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v1.0.0-rc.1"}]` |
| reliability.status_page | yes | - |
| security.disclosure_policy | yes | - |
| security.iso27001 | yes | - |
| security.scorecard | 7.5 | 4.8 |
| security.soc2 | yes | - |
| security.vulnerabilities | `{"count":0,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=go&package_name=github.com%2Fhashicorp%2Fconsul%2Fapi&per_page=100","last_12m":0,"max_severity":null}` | `{"count":0,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=go&package_name=github.com%2Fopenservicemesh%2Fosm&per_page=100","last_12m":0,"max_severity":null}` |

## Capabilities (Service Mesh)

| Capability | Consul | Open Service Mesh |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **Architecture** |  |  |
| Data plane | Sidecar | Sidecar |
| 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 | - | - |
| **Ops** |  |  |
| Commercial support / enterprise edition | ✓ | - |

*Source: Vioscale. Generated 2026-09-01T15:19:54.628Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*