OpenELB

OpenELB is ranked #5 of 25 in load balancing software on Freedom251. It runs on Linux, Self-hosted.

Compared on load balancing software

Free plan: Yes

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5.2

OpenELB

Purpose: OpenELB exposes Kubernetes LoadBalancer services for external access in bare-metal, edge and virtualization environments.
Load balancing modes: OpenELB supports load balancing in BGP mode and Layer 2 mode, and its documentation also describes VIP mode.
Routing: OpenELB supports ECMP routing and load balancing; its BGP mode uses GoBGP to publish service routes to peer routers.
IP address pools: Eip objects provide address pools from which OpenELB assigns IP addresses to Kubernetes LoadBalancer services.
Address family limit: The documentation says OpenELB currently supports only IPv4.
Installation: OpenELB can be installed in a Kubernetes cluster using kubectl manifests or Helm 3.
Kubernetes requirement: Installation requires Kubernetes 1.15 or later because OpenELB requires CustomResourceDefinition v1.
Layer 2 prerequisites: Layer 2 mode requires the infrastructure to allow anonymous ARP/NDP packets.
Layer 2 limitations: Layer 2 mode forwards traffic through one active node, so failover briefly interrupts services and bandwidth is limited to that node.
BGP prerequisites: BGP mode requires a router that supports BGP and ECMP; the documentation recommends it for high availability without failover interruptions or bandwidth bottlenecks.
Integrations: The project lists installation guides for Kubernetes, K3s and KubeSphere.
Support: The project directs users to the KubeSphere Slack channel for support and discussion.
License: OpenELB is licensed under Apache License 2.0.
Project status: The repository says OpenELB was originally created by KubeSphere and is a vendor-neutral CNCF Sandbox Project.

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Where it ranks on Freedom251

Best Load Balancing Software in 2026#5 of 25

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Sources

github.com/openelb/openelb· checked 4 Oct 2026
openelb.io/docs/concepts/bgp-mode/· checked 4 Oct 2026
openelb.io/docs/getting-started/configuration/conf· checked 4 Oct 2026
openelb.io/docs/getting-started/installation/insta· checked 4 Oct 2026
openelb.io/docs/concepts/layer-2-mode/· checked 4 Oct 2026
openelb.io/docs/overview/· checked 4 Oct 2026
openelb.io/docs/concepts/vip-mode/· checked 4 Oct 2026