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Best Load Balancing Software in 2026

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.

  1. 1

    HAProxy Community Edition

    Free plan Open source APILinuxMac+2

    HAProxy Community Edition brings TCP and HTTP proxying, load balancing, and high availability together in free, self-hosted software.

    9.0 Free plan Visit site
  2. 2

    AWS Elastic Load Balancing

    Free plan APILinuxMac+3

    ELB combines several traffic-routing options with health checks, scaling, and monitoring.

    7.6 Visit site
  3. 3

    Linux Virtual Server

    Free plan LinuxSelf-hosted

    LVS provides Linux kernel-based layer 4 balancing and cluster failover functions, with several forwarding methods.

    6.9 Free plan Visit site
  4. 4

    MetalLB

    Free plan LinuxSelf-hosted

    MetalLB provides service IP allocation and announcement for Kubernetes clusters where cloud-provider load balancing is not being used.

    6.9 Open source Visit site
  5. 5

    kube-vip

    Free plan LinuxSelf-hosted

    Choose kube-vip if a Linux Kubernetes cluster needs virtual IPs, control plane high availability, or Layer 4 balancing for LoadBalancer Services.

    6.7 Open source Visit site
  6. 6

    PureLB

    Free plan LinuxMacSelf-hosted

    PureLB provides address allocation and announcement for bare-metal Kubernetes, with local and BGP-based options. Note the Linux and CNI requirements, and treat Netbox support as limited.

    6.6 Open source Visit site
  7. 7

    A10 Thunder ADC

    by A10 Thunder ADC
    Free trial APILinuxSelf-hosted

    Choose A10 Thunder ADC if your organization needs flexible deployment options, Layer 4–7 load balancing, and security or availability capabilities across data centers and clouds.

    6.5 Pricing on request Visit site
  8. 8

    OpenELB

    Free plan LinuxSelf-hosted

    OpenELB offers several ways to expose Kubernetes services, but each mode has prerequisites and tradeoffs.

    6.5 Free plan Visit site
  9. 9

    Loadbalancer.org Enterprise

    Free trial APILinuxSelf-hosted+1

    Choose Loadbalancer.org Enterprise if your organization needs an ADC with regional traffic distribution, multiple deployment types, and integrated security controls.

    6.1 From $150/mo · 30-day trial Visit site
  10. 10

    Progress Kemp LoadMaster

    Free trial APILinuxSelf-hosted+2

    Choose LoadMaster if you need Layer 4 and Layer 7 traffic management alongside WAF and access protections.

    6.0 Free plan · 30-day trial Visit site
  11. 11

    Citrix ADC (now NetScaler)

    Paid APILinuxSelf-hosted

    Choose NetScaler if your organization needs application delivery, security, and management across deployment types or hybrid and multi-cloud environments.

    5.8 Pricing on request Visit site
  12. 12

    Array APV

    Paid APILinuxSelf-hosted+1

    APV combines multilevel load balancing with traffic policies and SSL/TLS processing options. Deployment and pricing details should be confirmed for the intended configuration.

    5.7 Pricing on request Visit site
  13. 13

    IIS Application Request Routing (ARR)

    Free plan Windows
    5.7 Free plan Visit site
  14. 14

    HAProxy Enterprise

    Paid APILinuxSelf-hosted

    HAProxy Enterprise combines broad protocol support, configurable routing, failover, security features, and Kubernetes tooling.

    5.6 Pricing on request Visit site
  15. 15

    Google Cloud Load Balancing

    Paid APIWeb

    Google Cloud Load Balancing provides managed traffic distribution across regional, global and external backends, with routing, failover and logging options.

    5.5 From $0.03 Visit site
  16. 16

    Oracle Cloud Infrastructure DNS

    Paid APILinuxWeb

    OCI DNS provides zone management, traffic steering, and multiple administration interfaces, with defined account and capacity limits.

    5.4 From $1.11 Visit site
  17. 17

    Radware Alteon

    by Radware Alteon
    Paid APILinuxSelf-hosted+1

    Choose Alteon if your organization needs application delivery and cloud security across on-premises, private cloud, or public cloud environments.

    5.4 Pricing on request Visit site
  18. 18

    Alibaba Cloud Server Load Balancer

    Paid Web

    Alibaba Cloud Server Load Balancer offers multiple managed options with different listed backend limits.

    4.9 From $0.01 Visit site
  19. 19

    Cloudflare Load Balancing

    Paid Web

    Cloudflare Load Balancing offers managed routing across two network layers, global traffic management, and TLS termination.

    4.9 From $5/mo Visit site
  20. 20

    Azure Load Balancer

    Paid Web

    Azure Load Balancer offers managed Layer 4 distribution and global traffic management, with billing based on rules, data, or hours according to the tier.

    4.7 30-day trial Visit site
  21. 21

    Barracuda Load Balancer ADC

    Paid Web
    4.6 Pricing on request Visit site
  22. 22

    DigitalOcean Load Balancers

    Paid Web

    DigitalOcean offers three straightforward paid load-balancing options with regional or global scope.

    4.6 From $12/mo Visit site
  23. 23

    F5 BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager

    Paid
    4.4 Pricing on request Visit site
  24. 24

    Hetzner Cloud Load Balancer

    Paid Web
    4.4 Visit site
  25. 25

    OVHcloud Load Balancer

    Paid Web
    4.4 From $22.99/mo Visit site

#1Places #1, #2, #3, #4, #5 on this list can be bought by the makers of the software on it. See the price

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