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HAProxy Community Edition

haproxy.org

Free plan Open source WindowsmacOSLinuxAPISelf-hosted
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Spec score 8.7 #3 of 32 in Load Balancing Software

What it is

HAProxy Community Edition is free, self-hosted software for proxying TCP and HTTP applications, with high availability and load balancing. It is aimed especially at very high-traffic websites. HAProxy runs on Linux, where it is included with most mainstream distributions and is often deployed by default on cloud platforms. Its event-driven design uses light multithreading on SMP machines. The project lists Layer 4 and Layer 7 routing and TLS termination, along with TCP and HTTP support; recent versions also include QUIC and HTTP/3 features. Listed safeguards include chroot, privilege drops, fork prevention, strict protocol validation, and checks for impossible states. The site reports up to 2 million SSL requests per second and 100 Gbps of forwarded traffic on AWS Graviton2. HAProxy 3.4 is in development, and 3.4.6 is the latest listed release in that branch. Its features include dynamic backends, HTTP/2 flood protections, ACME improvements, experimental QMUX, and an OpenTelemetry filter. LTS branches receive five years of maintenance; other stable branches receive 12 to 18 months.

Spec sheet

What it does
HAProxy is free, high-performance software for reverse proxying, high availability, and load balancing TCP and HTTP applications.Read 21 Oct 2026 · github.com
Purpose
HAProxy is a free, fast reverse proxy offering high availability, load balancing, and proxying for TCP and HTTP applications.Read 2 Oct 2026 · haproxy.org
Integrations
The 3.4 release notes list an OpenTelemetry filter and ACME certificate features including DNS-01 challenges.Read 2 Oct 2026 · haproxy.org
Security
Listed defensive measures include chroot, privilege drops, fork prevention, strict protocol validation, and checks for impossible states.Read 2 Oct 2026 · haproxy.org
Support
The project points users to commercial support contracts and professional services from HAProxy Technologies.Read 2 Oct 2026 · haproxy.org
Headquarters
Newton, Massachusetts, United StatesRead 28 Sep 2026 · haproxy.org
Founded
HAProxy Technologies is listed as founded in 2013.Read 21 Oct 2026 · linkedin.com
Abuse protection
Statistics by IP, URL, cookie, and other dimensions can trigger throttling, blocking, or alternate responses.Read 21 Oct 2026 · docs.haproxy.org
Architecture
HAProxy uses an event-driven architecture and light multithreading on SMP machines.Read 2 Oct 2026 · haproxy.org
Build requirements
Source builds require GNU Make 3.80 or newer plus GCC 4.7 or newer or a compatible Clang toolchain.Read 21 Oct 2026 · github.com
Company size
LinkedIn lists HAProxy Technologies as having 51–200 employees and headquarters in Newton, Massachusetts.Read 21 Oct 2026 · linkedin.com
Content switching
Routing rules can inspect request content to send different protocols or requests to different servers.Read 21 Oct 2026 · docs.haproxy.org
Current releases
As of the site’s displayed release list, HAProxy 3.4 is in development and 3.4.6 is the latest listed release in the 3.4 branch.Read 2 Oct 2026 · haproxy.org
Data Plane API
The Data Plane API is a standalone HTTP REST service for dynamically generating and managing HAProxy configurations.Read 21 Oct 2026 · haproxy.com
Documentation depth
Project documentation includes introduction, configuration, Lua, SPOE, management, peers, testing, networking namespaces, and developer internals material.Read 21 Oct 2026 · github.com
Download
The official site provides source repositories, release tarballs, snapshots, and documentation by version.Read 2 Oct 2026 · haproxy.org
Dynamic backends
HAProxy 3.4 added CLI operations to create, populate, publish, and delete backends without reloads.Read 21 Oct 2026 · haproxy.org
HTTP normalization
HAProxy passes only valid complete HTTP requests and corrects tolerated protocol deviations such as repeated header lines.Read 21 Oct 2026 · docs.haproxy.org
HTTP reverse proxy
In HTTP gateway mode it receives client requests, normalizes them, and manages server-facing connections.Read 21 Oct 2026 · docs.haproxy.org
Kubernetes integration
The HAProxy Kubernetes Ingress Controller provides TCP and HTTP routing from external clients to containers and includes Gateway API tutorials.Read 21 Oct 2026 · haproxy.com
Latest features
HAProxy 3.4 adds dynamic backends, HTTP/2 flood protections, ACME improvements, experimental QMUX, and an OpenTelemetry filter.Read 2 Oct 2026 · haproxy.org
Legal company facts
Crunchbase identifies the legal name as HAProxy Technologies, LLC and lists Dujko Radovnikovic as founder and CEO.Read 21 Oct 2026 · crunchbase.com
Licence
The main program is GPL version 2 or later, while its headers use LGPL 2.1.Read 21 Oct 2026 · github.com
Limit: dense documentation
Gartner reviewers say configuration-file and CLI documentation can be dense and difficult to search.Read 21 Oct 2026 · gartner.com
Limit: graphical dashboard
TrustRadius reviewers report that the community edition lacks a feature-oriented graphical dashboard.Read 21 Oct 2026 · trustradius.com
Limit: learning curve
G2 identifies a steep learning curve caused by HAProxy's broad configuration options.Read 21 Oct 2026 · g2.com
Linux availability
HAProxy is shipped with most mainstream Linux distributions and is often deployed by default in cloud platforms.Read 2 Oct 2026 · haproxy.org
Load balancing
It balances TCP connections or HTTP requests across backend servers.Read 21 Oct 2026 · docs.haproxy.org
Maintenance
Even-numbered LTS branches are maintained for five years, while odd-numbered stable branches are maintained for 12 to 18 months.Read 2 Oct 2026 · haproxy.org
Notable release
HAProxy 3.4.0 was announced on June 3, 2026 as an LTS release.Read 21 Oct 2026 · haproxy.org
Official packages
Official community packages are provided for Debian, Ubuntu, and RHEL on AMD64 and ARM64, with repository GPG-key verification.Read 21 Oct 2026 · cdn.haproxy.com
Performance
The site reports a test result of up to 2 million SSL requests per second and 100 Gbps forwarded traffic on AWS Graviton2.Read 2 Oct 2026 · haproxy.org
Praise: logging and efficiency
TrustRadius reviewers highlight real-time hit logging, reduced backend-server overhead, and cost savings versus traditional firewall load balancers.Read 21 Oct 2026 · trustradius.com
Praise: performance and flexibility
G2 reviewers repeatedly praise lightweight performance, flexible configuration, and responsive technical support.Read 21 Oct 2026 · g2.com
Protocols
The project supports TCP and HTTP-based applications, and its listed recent versions include QUIC and HTTP/3 features.Read 2 Oct 2026 · haproxy.org
QUIC and HTTP/3
Current documentation covers HTTP/3 over QUIC, including its independent-stream behavior and connection migration limitation.Read 21 Oct 2026 · docs.haproxy.org
Rating on G2
4.7 out of 5 from 914 reviewsRead 21 Oct 2026 · g2.com
Rating on Gartner Peer Insights
4.4 out of 5 from 11 reviewsRead 21 Oct 2026 · gartner.com
Rating on TrustRadius
9.3 out of 10 from 21 reviewsRead 21 Oct 2026 · trustradius.com
Recent operational features
The 3.4 LTS release added OpenTelemetry filtering, reusable health-check sections, a systemd conf.d directory, and improved live troubleshooting.Read 21 Oct 2026 · haproxy.org
Runtime API
The Runtime API exposes commands for dynamic backends, servers, ACLs, certificates, ACME status, and other live operations.Read 21 Oct 2026 · haproxy.com
Security fixes
On February 12, 2026, HAProxy reported QUIC parsing vulnerabilities CVE-2026-26080 and CVE-2026-26081 and released fixes for several maintained branches.Read 21 Oct 2026 · haproxy.org
Self-hosting
HAProxy is built and installed from source with GNU Make on Linux, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, Solaris, AIX, macOS, Cygwin, and other targets.Read 21 Oct 2026 · github.com
Target workloads
The project says HAProxy is particularly suited for very high traffic websites.Read 2 Oct 2026 · haproxy.org
TCP proxy
It accepts TCP connections and connects them to servers while supporting IPv4, IPv6, and Unix sockets.Read 21 Oct 2026 · docs.haproxy.org
Traffic regulation
It supports rate limiting, traffic prioritization, overload protection, and packet marking.Read 21 Oct 2026 · docs.haproxy.org
Troubleshooting visibility
Detailed logs make HAProxy useful as an observation point for diagnosing network problems.Read 21 Oct 2026 · docs.haproxy.org

Plans and prices

HAProxy Community Edition Free Free load balancer; TCP and HTTP proxying Read 2 Oct 2026 · haproxy.org
HAProxy Community Edition Free open source · TCP/HTTP load balancing and reverse proxy Read 21 Oct 2026 · g2.com
HAProxy Enterprise Priced on request custom pricing · enterprise security · support Read 21 Oct 2026 · haproxy.com

Every HAProxy Community Edition plan and price →

Strong points and limits

Strong points

  • Free plan costs nothing.
  • Supports Layer 4 and Layer 7 routing.
  • TLS termination is supported.
  • LTS branches receive five years of maintenance.

Limits

  • Linux and self-hosted platforms only.
  • No free trial is listed.
  • HAProxy 3.4 is still in development.

Who it suits

HAProxy suits operators running high-traffic TCP or HTTP services who want a self-hosted load balancer and reverse proxy. It is available for Linux, with commercial support and professional services offered by HAProxy Technologies.

Verdict

HAProxy Community Edition specifies its protocols, deployment model, release maintenance, and security measures. It is a free Linux option for teams prepared to manage a self-hosted proxy.

Where Specifiction places it

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