Cilium is a free microsegmentation solution. Isovalent Cilium Mesh is a commercial microsegmentation solution by Isovalent. Features, integrations, deployment and the company behind each one, side by side.
Cilium is a networking, observability, and security solution with an eBPF-based dataplane.
Universal networking layer for Kubernetes, VMs, and servers across environments
See more solutions in this category, or build a security stack from your picks.
Based on what each listing shows: deployment, company size, price and open source.
Cilium fits if you need to run it on your own servers, you are a small business, you need a free product and you want an open-source product.
Isovalent Cilium Mesh fits if you need both cloud and on-premises options.
Common questions when comparing Cilium vs Isovalent Cilium Mesh for microsegmentation.
Cilium: Cilium is a networking, observability, and security solution with an eBPF-based dataplane.
Isovalent Cilium Mesh: Universal networking layer for Kubernetes, VMs, and servers across environments, built by Isovalent.
The table above shows where their features, integrations, deployment and company size fit differ.
Cilium is open-source with 23,959 GitHub stars. Isovalent Cilium Mesh is made by Isovalent. The vendor behind a product decides its roadmap, support, and longevity, so check each company's profile before you commit.
Often, yes. Cilium and Isovalent Cilium Mesh are both Microsegmentation products, and both cover Observability. Key differences: Cilium is Free while Isovalent Cilium Mesh is Commercial, Cilium is open-source. Use the table above to see where features, deployment and company size fit differ.
No Microsegmentation shortlist yet. This is the closest one.
Updated 2026-11-01
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