Google Cloud Load Balancing vs OpenELB
Google Cloud Load Balancing
cloud.google.comOpenELB
openelb.ioSide by side
| Figure | Google Cloud Load Balancing | OpenELB |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | — | — |
| Free plan | — | — |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | — |
| Linux | — | Yes |
| API | Yes | — |
| Self-hosted | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 0 |
| Spec score · Load Balancing Software | 7.2 (#11) | 6.9 (#16) |
| Purpose | Cloud Load Balancing is a fully managed service that distributes traffic across apps for performance and resilience, scaling from zero to millions of users. | OpenELB exposes Kubernetes LoadBalancer services to external access in bare-metal, edge, and virtualization environments. |
| Support | Google Cloud support packages can include 24/7 coverage, phone support, and access to a technical support manager; community help is also available through Stack Overflow and Google Cloud Slack. | The project directs users to the KubeSphere Slack channel for support and discussion. |
Plans
In their own words
Google Cloud Load Balancing
Google Cloud Load Balancing has no write-up on Specifiction yet; its figures are above.
OpenELB
OpenELB exposes Kubernetes LoadBalancer services externally in bare-metal, edge, and virtualization environments. It assigns service addresses from Eip-managed IP pools and supports BGP, Layer 2, and VIP load-balancing modes. BGP mode uses GoBGP to publish routes to peer routers and supports ECMP, while BgpConf and BgpPeer custom resources configure BGP properties. Layer 2 mode requires infrastructure that permits anonymous ARP/NDP packets. VIP mode uses VRRP for high availability. OpenELB can be installed with kubectl manifests or Helm 3 in Kubernetes 1.15 or later, and guides are listed for Kubernetes, K3s, and KubeSphere. The project currently supports IPv4 only and is not a managed service. Layer 2 and VIP modes forward through one active node, so failover can briefly interrupt services and bandwidth is limited by that node. BGP requires a router supporting BGP and ECMP. OpenELB uses Apache License 2.0.