Chaos Mesh vs Toxiproxy
Chaos Mesh
chaos-mesh.orgToxiproxy
github.comSide by side
| Figure | Chaos Mesh | Toxiproxy |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | — |
| Windows | — | Yes |
| macOS | — | Yes |
| Linux | — | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 1 |
| Spec score · Chaos Engineering Platforms | 8.6 (#4) | 8.2 (#8) |
| License | Chaos Mesh is licensed under the Apache License 2.0. | The GitHub repository identifies the project license as MIT. |
| Purpose | Chaos Mesh simulates faults in development, testing, and production environments to help identify potential system problems. | Toxiproxy is a TCP proxy for simulating network and system conditions in chaos and resiliency testing. |
| Security | Chaos Mesh manages permissions through Kubernetes RBAC, and namespace annotations can restrict where experiments are enabled. | The HTTP API is unauthenticated by default and can create proxies to arbitrary upstreams; the project advises against exposing it to untrusted networks and supports bearer token authentication. |
Plans
In their own words
Chaos Mesh
Chaos Mesh is a free, open-source platform for running fault simulations in development, testing, and production environments. It runs on Kubernetes and manages experiments through Kubernetes CustomResourceDefinitions and the Kubernetes API. Fault simulations cover areas including Pods, networks, DNS, HTTP, I/O, time, stress, kernels, block devices, JVMs, physical machines, and AWS, Azure, and GCP. Schedule, Workflow, and StatusCheck resources support recurring experiments, serial or parallel workflows, and application health checks. Selectors and namespace controls help scope experiments to chosen targets. Chaos Dashboard offers a web interface and HTTP API for creating, managing, and observing experiments, with role-based access control enabled by default. Chaos Mesh is licensed under Apache License 2.0 and can be installed from its Helm repository using Helm 3. Compatibility varies by release: version 2.8 supports Kubernetes 1.30 through 1.35, while version 2.7 supports 1.26 through 1.28. Its privileged Chaos Daemon runs as a Kubernetes DaemonSet by default, though that permission can be disabled. Community support is available through CNCF Slack and GitHub Discussions.
Toxiproxy
Toxiproxy is a free, open-source TCP proxy for testing how software responds to network and system problems in development, testing, and CI. Applications route test connections through it, then users change connection behavior through an HTTP API or command-line interface. Built-in toxics can add latency or jitter, restrict bandwidth, delay socket closure, time out or reset connections, slice TCP data, limit transmitted data, or drop packets. Settings support deterministic connection changes as well as randomized chaos. The API manages proxies and toxics, resets proxies, and returns version information and Prometheus-compatible metrics. It listens on port 8474; configuring a proxy with listen port 0 assigns an ephemeral port. Client libraries are listed for Ruby, Go, Python, .NET, PHP, Node.js, Java, Haskell, Rust, and Elixir. Installation options include Linux packages and binaries, Homebrew and MacPorts, a Windows download, a container image, and building from source with Go. The project identifies its license as MIT. Its HTTP API is unauthenticated by default, though bearer-token authentication is supported.