Envoy vs Pingora
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted reverse proxy & gateways options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Envoy | Pingora |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 98 · Excellent | 97 · Excellent |
| Category | Reverse Proxy & Gateways | Reverse Proxy & Gateways |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | C++ | Rust |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | docker, kubernetes, binary | binary, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 28,974 | ★ 27,515 |
| First released | 2016 | 2024 |
| Replaces | Nginx, HAProxy | Nginx |
What are Envoy and Pingora?
Envoy
Envoy is a high-performance, open-source edge and service proxy designed for cloud-native applications and service meshes. It offers advanced load balancing, observability, and dynamic configuration.
- Service mesh data plane
- Dynamic xDS configuration
- Rich observability
- Advanced load balancing
Pingora
Pingora is an open-source Rust framework from Cloudflare for building fast, secure, and programmable proxies and network services. It powers a large share of Cloudflare's traffic.
- Programmable proxy framework
- Memory-safe Rust core
- High performance
- Battle-tested at Cloudflare
Envoy vs Pingora: key differences
Envoy is written in C++, while Pingora is built with Rust. Pingora is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 512 MB for Envoy. Envoy is the more established project (first released 2016), while Pingora arrived in 2024. Envoy lists first-class Docker deployment; Pingora does not.
Why pick each one
Choose Envoy if…
- Advanced load balancing
- Dynamic configuration API
- Deep observability features
Watch out for
- Steep learning curve
- Verbose YAML configuration
- Heavy for simple setups
Choose Pingora if…
- Battle-tested at Cloudflare
- Excellent performance
- Memory-safe Rust
Watch out for
- Rust coding required
- Not a turnkey proxy
Frequently asked questions
Is Envoy or Pingora better?
Neither is universally better. Envoy has the larger community; both share a hard setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Envoy and Pingora free and open-source?
Yes. Envoy is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Pingora under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Envoy and Pingora with Docker?
Envoy: yes. Pingora: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, Envoy or Pingora?
Pingora has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 512 MB for Envoy. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.