Envoy vs sslh
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 | sslh |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 98 · Excellent | 87 · Excellent |
| Category | Reverse Proxy & Gateways | Reverse Proxy & Gateways |
| License | Apache-2.0 | GPL-2.0 |
| Language | C++ | C |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 32 MB |
| Deployment | docker, kubernetes, binary | docker, bare-metal, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 28,983 | ★ 5,117 |
| First released | 2016 | 2008 |
| Replaces | Nginx, HAProxy | HAProxy |
What are Envoy and sslh?
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
sslh
sslh is an applicative protocol multiplexer that lets HTTPS, SSH, OpenVPN, and other services share the same TCP port. It inspects the first bytes of a connection and forwards it to the right server.
- Share one port across protocols
- SSH and HTTPS on port 443
- Tiny resource footprint
- Probe-based routing
Envoy vs sslh: key differences
Envoy is written in C++, while sslh is built with C. Licensing differs — Apache-2.0 for Envoy versus GPL-2.0 for sslh. Sslh is the lighter option, starting around 32 MB of RAM against 512 MB for Envoy. Sslh is the more established project (first released 2008), while Envoy arrived in 2016. Envoy has the considerably larger community, at 28,983 GitHub stars versus 5,117.
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 sslh if…
- Released under the GPL-2.0 license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 5.1k GitHub stars
Frequently asked questions
Is Envoy or sslh better?
Neither is universally better. Envoy has the larger community, while sslh is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Envoy and sslh free and open-source?
Yes. Envoy is licensed under Apache-2.0 and sslh under GPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Envoy and sslh with Docker?
Envoy: yes. sslh: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Envoy or sslh?
sslh has the smaller minimum footprint at 32 MB of RAM, compared to about 512 MB for Envoy. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.