Best Load Balancing Software in 2026
Updated
In short: VMware Workstation Pro is ranked #1 of 26 as of 4 October 2026, ahead of AWS Elastic Load Balancing and HAProxy Community Edition. The best-ranked option with a free plan is AWS Elastic Load Balancing. The lowest first paid tier on this page is Alibaba Cloud Server Load Balancer at $0.01/mo.
Load balancing software addresses how application traffic is routed and managed across backends. Compare Layer 4 and Layer 7 routing with global traffic management and TLS termination, and check the backend limit listed for each option. Managed-service availability helps distinguish operating models; free-plan availability and “Paid from” pricing add cost context. VMware Workstation Pro, AWS Elastic Load Balancing and HAProxy Community Edition are among the products shown. Weigh the listed routing features and limits against your workloads, infrastructure and preferred way of operating.
26 load balancing software ranked on what their makers publish — plans and prices, free tiers, platforms and the facts on their own pages.
4 of the 25 here have a free tier you can use, 0 have open-source code on record, and 0 have full bars: free, open, on most of your devices and documented.
| # | App | Signal | Free tier | Open code | Devices | From | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | VMware Workstation ProWindows · Linux · Self-hosted | Two bars | — | 2 of 6 | Free | 6.5 | |
| 2 | AWS Elastic Load BalancingWeb · API | Two bars | — | 1 of 6 | Free | 6.4 | |
| 3 | HAProxy Community EditionLinux · Self-hosted | Two bars | — | 1 of 6 | Free | 6.3 | |
| 4 | MetalLBLinux · Self-hosted | Two bars | — | 1 of 6 | Free | 6.3 | |
| 5 | F5 BIG-IP APMWeb · Windows · Mac · Linux · Android · iPhone · Self-hosted · API | Two bars | — | — | 6 of 6 | — | 5.4 |
| 6 | OpenELBLinux · Self-hosted | One bar | — | — | 1 of 6 | — | 5.4 |
| 7 | Hetzner Cloud VolumesWeb | One bar | — | — | 1 of 6 | — | 5.3 |
| 8 | kube-vipLinux · Self-hosted | One bar | — | — | 1 of 6 | — | 5.3 |
| 9 | PureLBLinux · Self-hosted | One bar | — | — | 1 of 6 | — | 5.3 |
| 10 | Array APVWeb · Linux | No signal | — | — | 2 of 6 | — | 5.2 |
| 11 | VMware Cloud Foundation OperationsWeb | No signal | — | — | 1 of 6 | — | 5.2 |
| 12 | FortiADCNo platforms listed | No signal | — | — | 0 of 6 | — | 5.1 |
| 13 | IIS Application Request Routing (ARR)Windows | No signal | — | — | 1 of 6 | — | 5.1 |
| 14 | Linux Virtual ServerLinux | No signal | — | — | 1 of 6 | — | 5.1 |
| 15 | Loadbalancer.org EnterpriseWeb · Linux · Self-hosted · API | One bar | — | — | 2 of 6 | — | 5.1 |
| 16 | Progress Kemp LoadMasterWeb · Windows · Linux · Self-hosted · API | Two bars | — | — | 3 of 6 | — | 5.1 |
| 17 | Radware AlteonWeb · Linux · Self-hosted · API | One bar | — | — | 2 of 6 | — | 5.1 |
| 18 | Vultr Block StorageWeb · Windows · Linux · API | Two bars | — | — | 3 of 6 | $0.03/mo | 5.1 |
| 19 | Citrix ADC (now NetScaler)Linux · Self-hosted · API | One bar | — | — | 1 of 6 | — | 5.0 |
| 20 | HAProxy EnterpriseLinux · Self-hosted · API | One bar | — | — | 1 of 6 | — | 5.0 |
| 21 | A10 Thunder ADCSelf-hosted · API | One bar | — | — | 0 of 6 | — | 4.9 |
| 22 | Alibaba Cloud Server Load BalancerWeb | One bar | — | — | 1 of 6 | $0.01/mo | 4.9 |
| 23 | Cloudflare Load BalancingWeb | One bar | — | — | 1 of 6 | $5/mo | 4.9 |
| 24 | DigitalOcean Load BalancersWeb | One bar | — | — | 1 of 6 | $12/mo | 4.9 |
| 25 | Google Cloud Load BalancingWeb · API | One bar | — | — | 1 of 6 | — | 4.9 |
Is your app on this list?
Numbered spots on this list can be sponsored. They are labelled, and the editorial order and scores never change for payment.
Questions about this list
Which load balancing software is ranked first on Freedom251?
VMware Workstation Pro is ranked #1 of 26 with a score of 6.5. AWS Elastic Load Balancing is second and HAProxy Community Edition third.
How many of these have a free plan?
4 of the 25 on this page publish a free plan on their own pricing pages.
Which is the cheapest paid option?
On this page, Alibaba Cloud Server Load Balancer has the lowest first paid tier we found: $0.01/mo.
How is this list ranked?
Ranked free-and-open first: a usable free tier and open-source code, then the platforms it runs on and its documentation. Paid placements never change a rank.