Detailed comparison across 10 dimensions
Winner: Cilium Service Mesh
Cilium Service Mesh clearly comes out ahead of Kong Mesh on Staquest's weighted six-dimension score. Cilium Service Mesh has a free tier; Kong Mesh does not.
| Overview | ||
|---|---|---|
| Type | hybrid | hybrid |
| Company | Isovalent | Kong |
| Free Tier | ||
| Has API | ||
| Open Source | ||
| Learning Curve | - | - |
| Integration | - | - |
| Trending | Stable | Stable |
| GitHub Stars | - | - |
| Industries | DevelopmentCybersecurity & InfoSecSaaS & Cloud | DevelopmentLegal & ComplianceCybersecurity & InfoSecSaaS & Cloud |
| Categories | devops | devops |
| Website | Visit | Visit |
Cilium Service Mesh
open source
custom
custom
| Feature | cilium-service-mesh | kong-mesh |
|---|---|---|
| 24/7 Enterprise Support | ||
| Available Via Kong Konnect (Saas) Or Self-Hosted Enterprise | ||
| Advanced Security And Compliance Features | ||
| Customized Quotes Based On Scale Of Deployment | ||
| Ebpf-Based Networking | ||
| Licensing Based On Total Number Of Connected Data Plane Proxies (Dpps) | ||
| Everything In Open Source | ||
| Support Needs Based Pricing | ||
| Exclusive Technical Training | ||
| Traffic Volume Based Pricing | ||
| Hardened Distribution | ||
| Hubble Observability | ||
| Kubernetes-Native Integration | ||
| Network Policy Enforcement | ||
| Proactive Environment Reviews | ||
| Sidecar-Free Service Mesh |
Showing 16 of 16 features
Dashes mean the feature isn't listed in our data. The tool may still support it.
On Staquest's weighted six-dimension scoring, Cilium Service Mesh comes out ahead overall, though Kong Mesh can be the better fit depending on your priorities — see the dimension-by-dimension breakdown above.
Cilium Service Mesh offers a free tier; Kong Mesh does not currently list one.
Cilium Service Mesh is open source. The feature comparison and dimension scores above cover the full breakdown.
