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HAProxy vs HashiCorp Consul comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 9, 2024
 

Categories and Ranking

HAProxy
Ranking in Service Mesh
5th
Average Rating
8.2
Number of Reviews
42
Ranking in other categories
Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) (4th)
HashiCorp Consul
Ranking in Service Mesh
8th
Average Rating
7.6
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2024, in the Service Mesh category, the mindshare of HAProxy is 14.6%, up from 3.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of HashiCorp Consul is 5.5%, down from 7.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Service Mesh
 

Featured Reviews

Mehdi El Filahi - PeerSpot reviewer
Apr 17, 2024
Useful for for small and quick load-balancing tasks
What I like best about the product is its simplicity and speed. When you need to set up a load balancer quickly, HAProxy offers options like sticky sessions and round-robin. It's also fast to configure, including adding SSL for security. While it may have fewer options than other solutions like F5, HAProxy gets the job done for basic load-balancing tasks. The reliability features of HAProxy were particularly useful in a scenario where I needed to test load balancing between two Tomcats. Since these domains were inaccessible, I set up a third Docker with HAProxy, which had access to the Tomcat domains. I then configured HAProxy to handle the load balancing. This setup allowed the client to interact with HAProxy. The solution's integration with other elements is easy.
Phanindra Sangers - PeerSpot reviewer
Jan 24, 2024
Has an efficient key vault feature, but its integration capabilities need enhancement
The primary use case for HashiCorp Consul is in a microservices architecture, particularly within a premium application involving various streaming services like Kafka The product's most valuable features are support for Service Mesh TLS and canary deployment. They could improve issues related…

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"The solution is user-friendly and efficient."
"It solves a problem for me where I can build files, not based on the health of the check, but rather the speed of the check."
"The features I find valuable in this solution are session control which automatically disconnects users that forget to log off, and the ability to write rules to either allow or block certain file requests."
"Advanced traffic rules, including stick tables and ACLs, which allow me to shape traffic while it's load balanced."
"Load balancing is valuable, and we are also using the WAF feature."
"We were able to use HAProxy for round robin with our databases, or for a centralized TCP connection in one host."
"Performance configuration options with threads, processes, and core stickiness are very valuable."
"It is stable. Period. Will not fail unless you do something wrong."
"HashiCorp Consul's most valuable feature is the automation of many processes, which limits the errors from user interaction."
"The documentation is good."
"The product's most valuable features are support for Service Mesh TLS and canary deployment."
 

Cons

"​It needs proper HTTP/2 support.​"
"The solution's dashboards and reports could be improved."
"The reconfigurability in terms of the tooling could be improved and maybe an editor plugin can be added."
"The web stats UI, which provides the status of the health and numbers, could greatly benefit from having a RESTful interface to control the load-balanced nodes. Although there is a hack around the UI (by issuing a POST request to HAProxy with parameters), a RESTful interface would greatly improve the automation process (through Chef and Ansible)."
"There are three main areas to improve: 1) Make remote management more modern by adding API. 2) Propose a general HA ​solution for HAProxy (no I'm using keepalived for this). 3) Thread option should be a bit more stable."
"We've changed solutions as it doesn't fit with our current needs."
"The logging functionality could use improvement, as it is a little cryptic."
"There is room for improvement in the pricing model. It could be cheaper."
"The command line of HashiCorp Consul could be more intuitive to make it easier to use."
"They could improve issues related to triggering generic deployments for the platform."
"Health check outputs are delayed sometimes."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We use NGINX as well. However, because the health checks are a paid feature, I like to avoid it whenever possible​."
"When it comes to pricing HAProxy is free."
"The licensing fee for the solution is $690 per unit annually."
"The tool is open-source."
"I use the open-source version of the product. I don't have experience with the licensed version of the solution."
"HAProxy is free in the initial offer. However, pricing can be improved."
"The price is well worth it. HAProxy Enterprise Edition paid for itself within months, simply due to the resiliency it brings. It was a bit more expensive than we were originally interested in paying, but we are thankful we chose to go with HAProxy."
"HAProxy is an open-source solution."
"In case of budget constraints, we opt for the product's business support licenses and use an open-source version"
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
20%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Government
9%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
26%
Computer Software Company
15%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Insurance Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

Do you recommend HAProxy?
I do recommend HAProxy for more simple applications or for companies with a low budget, since HAProxy is a free, open-source product. HAProxy is also a good choice for someone looking for a stable ...
What do you like most about HAProxy?
The solution is effective in managing our traffic.
What do you like most about HashiCorp Consul?
The product's most valuable features are support for Service Mesh TLS and canary deployment.
What needs improvement with HashiCorp Consul?
They could improve issues related to triggering generic deployments for the platform. We have raised multiple support cases. They could enhance the integration approach with Service Mesh tools. Add...
What advice do you have for others considering HashiCorp Consul?
I recommend HashiCorp Consul for beginners. It is a stable tool. The key-vault storage feature has significantly enhanced our configuration management process. We have maintained the secret softwar...
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

HAProxy Community Edition, HAProxy Enterprise Edition, HAPEE
No data available
 

Learn More

Video not available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Booking.com, GitHub, Reddit, StackOverflow, Tumblr, Vimeo, Yelp
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about HAProxy vs. HashiCorp Consul and other solutions. Updated: October 2024.
814,649 professionals have used our research since 2012.