Istio vs Tinyauth
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?
Istio
Full-featured service mesh for traffic and security control
VS
Tinyauth
Simplest way to protect your apps with a login screen
| Feature | Istio | Tinyauth |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Reverse Proxy & Gateways | Reverse Proxy & Gateways |
| License | Apache-2.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | Go | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | kubernetes, helm | docker |
| GitHub stars | ★ 38,338 | ★ 8,092 |
| First released | 2017 | 2024 |
| Replaces | AWS App Mesh | Cloudflare Access |
Why pick each one
Choose Tinyauth if…
- Released under the GPL-3.0 license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 8.1k GitHub stars
Frequently asked questions
Is Istio or Tinyauth better?
Neither is universally better. Istio has the larger community, while Tinyauth is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Istio and Tinyauth free and open-source?
Yes. Istio is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Tinyauth under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Istio and Tinyauth with Docker?
Istio: check the project docs for container support. Tinyauth: yes.