Hetzner Load Balancer vs Envoy Proxy
A detailed comparison to help you choose between Hetzner Load Balancer and Envoy Proxy.
Quick Verdict
4.0/5
Hetzner Load Balancer
47 reviews
4.0/5
Envoy Proxy
307 reviews
Envoy Proxy is rated higher (4.0 vs 4.0). Hetzner's managed load balancer distributes traffic across servers with configurable health checks, SSL termination, and direct integration with Hetzner Cloud. Suitable for teams running infrastructure on Hetzner. Envoy is an open source L7 proxy and service mesh foundation. Used as the data plane in Istio, AWS App Mesh, and Consul Connect. High performance, built for microservices and Kubernetes.
Hetzner Load Balancer Managed load balancing with Layer 4/7 support and auto-scaling integration | Envoy Proxy Cloud-native proxy and service mesh sidecar | |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | ||
| Rating | 4.0 (47 reviews) | 4.0 (307 reviews)✓ |
| Pricing model | paid | free |
| Starting price | From €6/mo | Free✓ |
| Best for | Teams running applications on Hetzner Cloud who need straightforward, managed load balancing without vendor lock-in concerns. | Platform engineering teams building service mesh infrastructure on Kubernetes using Istio or similar |
| Tags | ||
| Tags | managed optioneu datacenterus datacenter | free tieropen source |
| Visit Hetzner Load Balancer → | Visit Envoy Proxy → | |
Hetzner Load Balancer
Pros
- + Scale traffic handling without modifying application code
- + Terminate SSL/TLS encryption at the load balancer to reduce backend load
- + Configure round-robin, least connections, or IP-hash distribution algorithms
- + Monitor backend health with customizable check intervals and thresholds
Cons
- - Limited feature parity if comparing advanced options from AWS ELB or Google Cloud Load Balancer
- - Only cost-effective if already using Hetzner Cloud for backend infrastructure
Envoy Proxy
Pros
- + Foundation of major service meshes (Istio)
- + High performance C++ implementation
- + Built for Kubernetes microservices
Cons
- - Very complex configuration
- - Not for simple load balancing needs
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