Envoy vs Skipper
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?
Envoy
Cloud-native high-performance edge and service proxy
VS
Skipper
HTTP router and reverse proxy for service composition
| Feature | Envoy | Skipper |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Reverse Proxy & Gateways | Reverse Proxy & Gateways |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | C++ | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | docker, kubernetes, binary | kubernetes, docker, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 28,735 | ★ 3,311 |
| First released | 2016 | 2016 |
| Replaces | Nginx, HAProxy | Nginx, Traefik |
Why pick each one
Choose Envoy if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Kubernetes-ready with Helm charts available
- Mature project with 28.7k GitHub stars
Choose Skipper if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Kubernetes-ready with Helm charts available
- Active community (3.3k GitHub stars)
Frequently asked questions
Is Envoy or Skipper better?
Neither is universally better. Envoy has the larger community, while Skipper is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Envoy and Skipper free and open-source?
Yes. Envoy is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Skipper under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Envoy and Skipper with Docker?
Envoy: yes. Skipper: yes.