# Kuma vs Linkerd

**Leader by Vioscale score:** Linkerd

| Attribute | Kuma | Linkerd |
|---|---|---|
| **Vioscale score** | 53.3 (36% (low)) | 63.8 (42% (low)) |
| activity.commits_last_30d | 100 | 56 |
| adoption.dependent_repos | 8 | 19 |
| adoption.github_stars | 3,995 | 11,481 |
| deployment.options | `{"cloud":true,"hybrid":true,"on_prem":true,"self_hosted":true}` | `{"cloud":true,"self_hosted":true}` |
| description.long | 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. | 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. |
| features.capabilities | `{"proxy":"envoy","data_plane":"sidecar","vm_support":true,"multicluster":true,"cncf_maturity":"sandbox","automatic_mtls":true,"fault_injection":true,"traffic_splitting":true,"commercial_support":true,"gateway_api_support":true,"built_in_observability":true}` | `{"proxy":"linkerd2","data_plane":"sidecar","vm_support":true,"multicluster":true,"cncf_maturity":"graduated","automatic_mtls":true,"fault_injection":true,"traffic_splitting":true,"commercial_support":false,"gateway_api_support":true,"built_in_observability":true}` |
| integrations.count | 4 | 6 |
| integrations.list | `[{"name":"Prometheus"},{"name":"Grafana"},{"name":"Datadog"},{"name":"OpenTelemetry"}]` | `[{"name":"Prometheus"},{"name":"Grafana"},{"name":"Argo CD"},{"name":"Jaeger"},{"name":"Helm"},{"name":"Gateway API"}]` |
| language.primary | Go | Go |
| license.spdx | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| market.availability | `{"hqCountry":"US","primaryMarkets":[],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` | - |
| platform.support | `{"cli":true,"web":true}` | `{"cli":true,"web":true}` |
| pricing | `{"type":"open_source","summary":"Open-source with enterprise offerings available (demo on request)","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://kuma.io","retrievedAt":"2026-08-13T09:40:11.791Z"}` | `{"type":"open_source","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://linkerd.io","retrievedAt":"2026-08-14T16:39:49.641Z"}` |
| pricing.free_tier | yes | yes |
| pricing.model | commercial | commercial |
| pricing.price_level | free | free |
| pricing.transparent | no | yes |
| release.cadence_days | - | 7 |
| release.history | `[{"url":"https://github.com/kumahq/kuma/releases/tag/v2.14.3","date":"2026-08-10T13:27:37Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.14.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/kumahq/kuma/releases/tag/v2.13.10","date":"2026-08-01T16:57:53Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.13.10"},{"url":"https://github.com/kumahq/kuma/releases/tag/v2.12.14","date":"2026-08-01T16:57:54Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.12.14"},{"url":"https://github.com/kumahq/kuma/releases/tag/v2.11.18","date":"2026-08-01T16:57:55Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.11.18"},{"url":"https://github.com/kumahq/kuma/releases/tag/2.9.19","date":"2026-08-01T16:57:55Z","type":"stable","version":"2.9.19"},{"url":"https://github.com/kumahq/kuma/releases/tag/v2.7.29","date":"2026-08-01T16:57:56Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.7.29"},{"url":"https://github.com/kumahq/kuma/releases/tag/v2.14.2","date":"2026-08-01T16:57:53Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.14.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/kumahq/kuma/releases/tag/v2.14.1","date":"2026-07-15T13:30:10Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.14.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/kumahq/kuma/releases/tag/v2.13.9","date":"2026-07-11T07:53:54Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.13.9"},{"url":"https://github.com/kumahq/kuma/releases/tag/v2.12.13","date":"2026-07-10T17:16:14Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.12.13"},{"url":"https://github.com/kumahq/kuma/releases/tag/v2.11.17","date":"2026-07-10T18:06:27Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.11.17"},{"url":"https://github.com/kumahq/kuma/releases/tag/2.9.18","date":"2026-07-10T18:24:39Z","type":"stable","version":"2.9.18"},{"url":"https://github.com/kumahq/kuma/releases/tag/v2.7.28","date":"2026-07-10T18:11:47Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.7.28"},{"url":"https://github.com/kumahq/kuma/releases/tag/v2.11.16","date":"2026-06-23T12:37:34Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.11.16"},{"url":"https://github.com/kumahq/kuma/releases/tag/v2.14.0","date":"2026-06-12T18:26:57Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.14.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/kumahq/kuma/releases/tag/v2.13.8","date":"2026-06-05T15:42:58Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.13.8"},{"url":"https://github.com/kumahq/kuma/releases/tag/v2.12.12","date":"2026-06-05T15:43:31Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.12.12"},{"url":"https://github.com/kumahq/kuma/releases/tag/v2.11.15","date":"2026-06-05T15:43:40Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.11.15"},{"url":"https://github.com/kumahq/kuma/releases/tag/2.9.17","date":"2026-06-05T15:45:37Z","type":"stable","version":"2.9.17"},{"url":"https://github.com/kumahq/kuma/releases/tag/v2.7.27","date":"2026-06-05T16:24:18Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.7.27"}]` | `[{"url":"https://github.com/linkerd/linkerd2/releases/tag/edge-26.8.4","date":"2026-08-25T16:16:21Z","type":"stable","version":"edge-26.8.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/linkerd/linkerd2/releases/tag/edge-26.8.3","date":"2026-08-21T17:26:19Z","type":"stable","version":"edge-26.8.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/linkerd/linkerd2/releases/tag/edge-26.8.2","date":"2026-08-14T19:27:42Z","type":"stable","version":"edge-26.8.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/linkerd/linkerd2/releases/tag/edge-26.8.1","date":"2026-08-03T21:00:33Z","type":"stable","version":"edge-26.8.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/linkerd/linkerd2/releases/tag/edge-26.7.2","date":"2026-07-24T16:42:14Z","type":"stable","version":"edge-26.7.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/linkerd/linkerd2/releases/tag/edge-26.7.1","date":"2026-07-21T20:32:34Z","type":"stable","version":"edge-26.7.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/linkerd/linkerd2/releases/tag/edge-26.6.3","date":"2026-06-18T17:47:14Z","type":"stable","version":"edge-26.6.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/linkerd/linkerd2/releases/tag/edge-26.6.2","date":"2026-06-16T00:35:04Z","type":"stable","version":"edge-26.6.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/linkerd/linkerd2/releases/tag/edge-26.6.1","date":"2026-06-05T17:36:19Z","type":"stable","version":"edge-26.6.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/linkerd/linkerd2/releases/tag/edge-26.5.5","date":"2026-05-29T21:36:16Z","type":"stable","version":"edge-26.5.5"},{"url":"https://github.com/linkerd/linkerd2/releases/tag/edge-26.5.4","date":"2026-05-29T15:40:39Z","type":"stable","version":"edge-26.5.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/linkerd/linkerd2/releases/tag/edge-26.5.3","date":"2026-05-21T10:41:32Z","type":"stable","version":"edge-26.5.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/linkerd/linkerd2/releases/tag/edge-26.5.2","date":"2026-05-15T15:19:54Z","type":"stable","version":"edge-26.5.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/linkerd/linkerd2/releases/tag/edge-26.5.1","date":"2026-05-01T17:48:25Z","type":"stable","version":"edge-26.5.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/linkerd/linkerd2/releases/tag/edge-26.4.4","date":"2026-04-24T12:43:14Z","type":"stable","version":"edge-26.4.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/linkerd/linkerd2/releases/tag/edge-26.4.3","date":"2026-04-15T18:23:54Z","type":"stable","version":"edge-26.4.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/linkerd/linkerd2/releases/tag/edge-26.4.2","date":"2026-04-09T20:29:00Z","type":"stable","version":"edge-26.4.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/linkerd/linkerd2/releases/tag/edge-26.4.1","date":"2026-04-02T21:09:50Z","type":"stable","version":"edge-26.4.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/linkerd/linkerd2/releases/tag/edge-26.3.3","date":"2026-03-19T18:57:49Z","type":"stable","version":"edge-26.3.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/linkerd/linkerd2/releases/tag/edge-26.3.2","date":"2026-03-12T13:06:38Z","type":"stable","version":"edge-26.3.2"}]` |
| security.disclosure_policy | yes | - |
| security.gdpr | yes | - |
| security.scorecard | 8.3 | 8.2 |
| security.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,"max_severity":null}` | `{"count":1,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=go&package_name=github.com%2Flinkerd%2Flinkerd2&per_page=100","last_12m":0,"max_severity":"MODERATE"}` |

## Capabilities (Service Mesh)

| Capability | Kuma | Linkerd |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **Architecture** |  |  |
| Data plane | Sidecar | Sidecar |
| Proxy | Envoy | linkerd2-proxy |
| **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 | Graduated |
| **Ops** |  |  |
| Commercial support / enterprise edition | ✓ | ✗ |

*Source: Vioscale. Generated 2026-09-01T17:12:54.560Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*