Anchore Secure vs F5 Aspen Mesh: Side-by-Side Comparison (2026)

Anchore Secure: Container & source code scanning for vulnerabilities, malware, and secrets. built by Anchore. Core capabilities include Container image vulnerability scanning, Source code scanning, SBOM generation using Syft..

F5 Aspen Mesh: Istio-based service mesh for 5G microservices & cloud-native deployments. built by F5. Core capabilities include Istio-based service mesh with traffic control and policy enforcement, IPv4/IPv6 dual-stack networking support, Packet Inspector for service mesh traffic capture and visibility..

Both serve the Container Security market but differ in approach, feature depth, and target audience.

Anchore Secure differentiates with Container image vulnerability scanning, Source code scanning, SBOM generation using Syft. F5 Aspen Mesh differentiates with Istio-based service mesh with traffic control and policy enforcement, IPv4/IPv6 dual-stack networking support, Packet Inspector for service mesh traffic capture and visibility.

Anchore Secure is developed by Anchore. F5 Aspen Mesh is developed by F5. Vendor maturity, funding stage, and team size can be important factors when evaluating long-term viability and support quality.

Anchore Secure integrates with GitHub, Harbor Registry, Kubernetes. F5 Aspen Mesh integrates with Kubernetes, Istio, F5 BIG-IP Next Service Proxy for Kubernetes, Helm 3. Check integration compatibility with your existing security stack before deciding.

Anchore Secure and F5 Aspen Mesh serve similar Container Security use cases: both are Container Security tools, both cover Kubernetes. Review the feature comparison above to determine which fits your requirements.