Faucet vs Kube-OVN
Faucet
faucet.nzKube-OVN
kubeovn.github.ioSide by side
| Figure | Faucet | Kube-OVN |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | — | Free |
| Free plan | — | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | — | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 0 | 1 |
| Spec score · Software-Defined Networking Software | 7.3 (#10) | 7.7 (#5) |
| Integrations | The documentation lists integrations including doveSnap, pipette, Poseidon, DAQ, Forch, and a GNS3 Faucet appliance. | Documented integrations include Cilium, MetalLB, OpenStack, Submariner, and OVN interconnect. |
| License | The project repository identifies Faucet as licensed under Apache-2.0. | The repository identifies Apache-2.0 as the project license. |
| Network features | The listed features include VLANs, IPv4 and IPv6, static and BGP routing, ACLs, port mirroring, and switch stacking. | Its documented capabilities include subnet management, static IP allocation, gateways, hybrid underlay and overlay networks, VPC features, QoS, ACLs, and traffic mirroring. |
| Security | The switch control channel can use TLS on a dedicated port, and switches can use fail-secure or fail-standalone behavior. | The project accepts vulnerability reports by email and says a maintainer will acknowledge receipt within three days. |
| Support | Users can ask questions and request features through the mailing list, and report issues through GitHub. | The project links to Slack for community discussion and Alauda for support. |
Plans
In their own words
Faucet
Faucet is a free, open-source OpenFlow controller for network operators managing production networks and OpenFlow hardware. It moves routing, neighbour discovery and switching algorithms into vendor-independent server software with a centralised control plane. Faucet controls OpenFlow 1.3.x switches with multiple tables and group tables, supporting VLANs, IPv4 and IPv6, static and BGP routing, access control lists, port mirroring and switch stacking. Policy-based forwarding can offload processing to external systems, including 802.1X through hostapd. YAML provides network configuration, with a documented command for checking configuration before loading it. Installation options include pip3, apt-get and Docker; the guide places Faucet with Gauge, Prometheus and Grafana, while InfluxDB supplies time-series statistics. TLS can protect the switch control channel, and fail-secure or fail-standalone modes are available. High availability uses redundant controllers with matching configuration but no shared state. Faucet runs on Linux and self-hosted deployments and is licensed under Apache-2.0.
Kube-OVN
Kube-OVN combines OVN and Open vSwitch with Kubernetes for cloud-native network orchestration. Its documented features include subnet management, static IP allocation, gateways, hybrid underlay and overlay networks, VPC features, QoS, ACLs, and traffic mirroring. VPC networks provide tenants with separate address spaces and networking resources. The project recommends it for Kubernetes environments needing KubeVirt support or multi-tenant networking; KubeVirt virtual machines can live-migrate without network interruption. Documented integrations include Cilium, MetalLB, OpenStack, Submariner, and OVN interconnect. With Cilium chaining, Kube-OVN network abstractions can be used with Cilium eBPF monitoring and security capabilities. The project runs on x86_64 and arm64, and its documentation provides one-click installation scripts. It is free under Apache-2.0, deployed on-premises, and uses a centralized control plane. The project advises against it for OpenShift, public-cloud managed Kubernetes, and cases requiring an all-in-one CNI, ingress, service mesh, and observability stack.