beelzebub vs Istio
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted reverse proxy & gateways options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Not the right match-up?
beelzebub
Honeypot framework designed to provide a highly secure environment for
VS
Istio
Full-featured service mesh for traffic and security control
| Feature | beelzebub | Istio |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Reverse Proxy & Gateways | Reverse Proxy & Gateways |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Go | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 1,024 MB |
| Deployment | docker, kubernetes | kubernetes, helm |
| GitHub stars | ★ 2,134 | ★ 38,338 |
| First released | 2026 | 2017 |
| Replaces | — | AWS App Mesh |
Why pick each one
Choose beelzebub if…
- Released under the MIT license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Kubernetes-ready with Helm charts available
- Active community (2.1k GitHub stars)
Frequently asked questions
Is beelzebub or Istio better?
Neither is universally better. Istio has the larger community, while beelzebub is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are beelzebub and Istio free and open-source?
Yes. beelzebub is licensed under MIT and Istio under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run beelzebub and Istio with Docker?
beelzebub: yes. Istio: check the project docs for container support.