Side by side
AWS Elastic Load Balancing vs HAProxy Community Edition
Both stand on load balancing software. Which one you can start free with, which one lets you read the code, and what each costs once you pay.
ELB combines several traffic-routing options with health checks, scaling, and monitoring. Costs depend on usage and region, and Application Load Balancers use a different API set from Classic Load Balancers.
Visit AWS Elastic Load BalancingHAProxy Community Edition brings TCP and HTTP proxying, load balancing, and high availability together in free, self-hosted software. Its Linux focus and self-management model are important considerations; the project also points users to commercial support contracts and professional services.
Visit HAProxy Community EditionThe facts
| AWS Elastic Load Balancing | HAProxy Community Edition | |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Open source | No | Yes |
| Runs on | API, Linux, Mac, Self-hosted, Web, Windows | API, Linux, Mac, Self-hosted, Windows |
| Lowest paid plan | Free or on request | Free or on request |
| Plans published | 5 | 2 |
| Maker | Not published | Not published |
| Website | aws.amazon.com | haproxy.org |
| On load balancing software | #2 of 32 | #1 of 32 |
AWS Elastic Load Balancing: what it does well
- Offers four load balancer types.
- Adjusts capacity as application traffic changes.
- Runs configurable health checks on targets.
- Includes CloudWatch metrics and logging for all four types.
- Can route across AWS and on-premises resources.
What to know first
- Usage-based charges vary by region.
- Data transfer and public IPv4 charges may apply.
- Application Load Balancers require a different API set from Classic Load Balancers.
HAProxy Community Edition: what it does well
- Free plan for TCP and HTTP proxying.
- Supports Layer 4 and Layer 7 routing.
- Includes TLS termination.
- Shipped with most mainstream Linux distributions.
- LTS branches are maintained for five years.
What to know first
- Self-hosted rather than a managed service.
- Runs on Linux according to the listed platforms.
- The 3.4 branch is listed as in development.
Alternatives to AWS Elastic Load Balancing Alternatives to HAProxy Community Edition The whole list