Calico Open Source vs Cello CNI
Calico Open Source
tigera.ioCello CNI
github.comSide by side
| Figure | Calico Open Source | Cello CNI |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Windows | Yes | — |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 1 |
| Spec score · Container Networking Software | 8.0 (#5) | 7.9 (#6) |
| Network policy | Its policy engine implements Kubernetes network policy features, including AdminNetworkPolicy and BaselineAdminNetworkPolicy. | The project says its Cilium components support NetworkPolicy and use eBPF programs on a Pod's primary device. |
| Purpose | Calico Open Source provides networking, network security, and observability across Kubernetes distributions. | Cello is a Kubernetes CNI plugin based on the Volcengine VPC network that lets cluster workloads communicate within the VPC. |
| Support | The editions comparison describes Calico Open Source support and maintenance as community-driven. | The project directs questions and contributions to GitHub issues or pull requests and also mentions maintainer email and a Feishu group. |
Plans
In their own words
Calico Open Source
Calico Open Source provides networking, network security, and observability for Kubernetes across multi-cloud, hybrid-cloud, and on-premises environments. It supports container, virtual machine, and bare-metal workloads with a shared security policy framework. The policy engine implements Kubernetes network policy features including AdminNetworkPolicy and BaselineAdminNetworkPolicy. Policies can use tiers, deny and log actions, NetworkSets, and cluster-wide global rules; Staged Policies allow teams to assess behavior before applying enforcement. Listed data planes include eBPF, iptables, nftables, Windows, and VPP. Whisker provides a visual way to view flow logs and analyze network communication. Calico can also manage WireGuard tunnels to encrypt pod traffic between Kubernetes nodes. Calico Ingress Gateway provides traffic control, load balancing, and ingress policy enforcement. The free plan includes unlimited clusters, with in-memory data retention and community-driven support and maintenance. Tigera describes deployments ranging from 10 to 10,000 or more nodes.