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Envoy Gateway

gateway.envoyproxy.io

Free plan APISelf-hosted
Visit gateway.envoyproxy.io
Spec score 7.9 #9 of 28 in Kubernetes Ingress Controllers

What it is

Envoy Gateway is a free, open-source application gateway for managing Envoy Proxy in standalone or Kubernetes-based deployments. It provisions and configures proxies through Kubernetes Gateway API resources, extending the API to expose Envoy features. Traffic management includes rate limiting, retries, circuit breaking, timeouts and failover. Security options include mTLS, JWT-based access control, OIDC integration and API-key authorization; listed authentication methods also include Basic Auth and external authorization. Envoy Gateway supports TLS termination and can attach an OCSP response from a Gateway certificate Secret during a TLS handshake. Metrics, access logging and distributed tracing are among its observability features. Installation options include Helm, Argo CD, Flux CD and Kubernetes YAML, though the quickstart requires a Kubernetes cluster. The project lists HTTP, HTTPS, gRPC, TLS, TCP and UDP support. Integrations and ecosystem projects include Envoy AI Gateway, Kuadrant, Knative, KServe and KEDA. Community help is directed through Envoy Slack, GitHub discussions and issues, and community meetings. Documentation cautions that the latest release includes recent main-branch commits and might not be stable.

Spec sheet

Purpose
Envoy Gateway manages application and API traffic using Envoy Proxy as a standalone or Kubernetes-based API gateway.Read 4 Oct 2026 · gateway.envoyproxy.io
Deployment
The project can manage Envoy Proxy as a standalone or Kubernetes-based application gateway.Read 4 Oct 2026 · gateway.envoyproxy.io
Integrations
The project lists integrations and ecosystem projects including Envoy AI Gateway, Kuadrant, Knative, KServe, and KEDA.Read 4 Oct 2026 · gateway.envoyproxy.io
Security
Its security controls include mTLS, JWT-based access control, OIDC integration, and API-key authorization.Read 4 Oct 2026 · gateway.envoyproxy.io
Community support
The project directs users to Envoy Slack, GitHub discussions and issues, and community meetings.Read 4 Oct 2026 · gateway.envoyproxy.io
Enterprise support
The project site lists third-party enterprise support and consulting providers, including Tetrate Enterprise Gateway for Envoy.Read 4 Oct 2026 · gateway.envoyproxy.io
Extensibility
The control plane is designed to support custom policies, specialized solutions, and extensions.Read 4 Oct 2026 · gateway.envoyproxy.io
Gateway API
Envoy Gateway implements the Kubernetes Gateway API and extends it to expose Envoy features through Gateway API resources.Read 4 Oct 2026 · gateway.envoyproxy.io
Installation
The documentation provides installation paths using Helm, Argo CD, Flux CD, and Kubernetes YAML.Read 4 Oct 2026 · gateway.envoyproxy.io
Observability
The project lists metrics, access logging, and distributed tracing as observability features.Read 4 Oct 2026 · gateway.envoyproxy.io
Open source
The project describes Envoy Gateway as open source and its GitHub repository lists the Apache-2.0 license.Read 4 Oct 2026 · github.com
Prerequisite
The quickstart requires a Kubernetes cluster.Read 4 Oct 2026 · gateway.envoyproxy.io
Release caveat
The documentation says the latest release contains recent main-branch commits and might not be stable.Read 4 Oct 2026 · gateway.envoyproxy.io
Security features
Its security controls include mTLS, JWT-based access control, OIDC integration, and API-key authorization.Read 4 Oct 2026 · gateway.envoyproxy.io
TLS
Envoy Gateway supports TLS termination and can attach an OCSP response from a Gateway certificate Secret during the TLS handshake.Read 4 Oct 2026 · gateway.envoyproxy.io
Traffic management
The project lists rate limiting, retries, circuit breaking, timeouts, and failover among its traffic management capabilities.Read 4 Oct 2026 · gateway.envoyproxy.io

Plans and prices

Envoy Gateway Free Open-source project · standalone or Kubernetes-based application gateway Read 4 Oct 2026 · gateway.envoyproxy.io

Every Envoy Gateway plan and price →

Strong points and limits

Strong points

  • Free and licensed under Apache-2.0
  • Supports standalone and Kubernetes deployment
  • Includes rate limiting, retries and failover
  • Offers multiple authentication and TLS controls
  • Provides metrics, logging and distributed tracing

Limits

  • Quickstart requires a Kubernetes cluster
  • Latest release might not be stable
  • Self-hosted deployment is required

Who it suits

It suits teams that need a self-hosted gateway for standalone or Kubernetes-based Envoy Proxy deployments. Kubernetes users can follow the quickstart, while the project also supports standalone deployment.

Verdict

Envoy Gateway combines Gateway API-based proxy configuration with traffic management, security and observability features. Its release caveat and Kubernetes quickstart prerequisite are worth noting when planning adoption.

Where Specifiction places it

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