HAProxy Enterprise vs MetalLB
HAProxy Enterprise
haproxy.comMetalLB
metallb.ioSide by side
| Figure | HAProxy Enterprise | MetalLB |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | — | Free |
| Free plan | — | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | — |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 1 |
| Spec score · Load Balancing Software | 7.4 (#10) | 7.5 (#7) |
| Purpose | HAProxy Enterprise distributes incoming traffic across servers and continuously checks server health, rerouting requests when a server starts to fail. | MetalLB provides a network load balancer for Kubernetes clusters that do not run on a cloud provider. |
Plans
In their own words
HAProxy Enterprise
HAProxy Enterprise has no write-up on Specifiction yet; its figures are above.
MetalLB
MetalLB provides network load balancing for Kubernetes clusters that do not run on a cloud provider. It assigns service IP addresses from operator-configured pools and announces them through ARP, NDP, or BGP, depending on the chosen mode. In layer 2 mode, one cluster machine announces an address using ARP for IPv4 or NDP for IPv6. In BGP mode, cluster machines peer with nearby routers, which can distribute traffic across multiple nodes. The recommended FRR-K8s mode supports BFD, IPv6, and merging additional FRR configuration. MetalLB is open source, with no paid plans listed. Installation options include Kubernetes manifests, Kustomize, Helm, and an Operator on OperatorHub. After installation it remains idle until configured with resources such as an IPAddressPool in its deployment namespace. Requirements include Kubernetes 1.13.0 or later, a compatible cluster network, and IPv4 addresses. The project lists AWS, Azure, DigitalOcean, and Google Cloud as unsupported and says it is generally incompatible with cloud providers. MetalLB describes itself as a beta project and cautions that its configuration format may change incompatibly as development continues.