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Cybersecurity · head to head

Aikido vs Envoy

Aikido logo

Aikido

Cybersecurity

Unified security platform automating vulnerability detection and fixing across development

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Visit AikidoFull review
Envoy logo

Envoy

Developer Tools

A high-performance L7 proxy written in C++ that is configured by an API rather than a config file, and is usually deployed under a control plane.

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Visit EnvoyFull review

The short version

  • Aikido is a developer-focused security platform.
  • Envoy is free; Aikido starts at $600/mo.
  • Only Aikido lists software Composition Analysis (SCA); only Envoy lists xDS dynamic configuration.
  • Where Aikido falls short: free plan includes fair-usage limits on repos and container images.
  • Prices and features on this page were last checked on 13 November 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Aikido and Envoy actually diverge.

Attributes where Aikido and Envoy differ
AttributeAikidoEnvoy
Pricing modelSubscription with free tierOpen-source
PlatformsWeb, CI/CD, IDEWeb
CategoryCybersecurityDeveloper Tools

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes).

Not yet recorded: founded for Envoy.

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Aikido

  • Static Application Security Testing (SAST)
  • Software Composition Analysis (SCA)
  • AutoFix
  • Secrets detection
  • Cloud Security Posture Management
  • AI-powered penetration testing
  • Device protection
  • False positive reduction

Only in Envoy

  • xDS dynamic configuration
  • Protocol breadth
  • Filter chain architecture
  • Observability by default
  • Outlier detection
  • Traffic shaping
  • mTLS termination and origination
  • Hot restart

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Aikido

  • Developer-friendly security integrated into PR workflowsnot Envoy
  • Automated vulnerability remediation with context-aware alertsnot Envoy
  • Consolidation of fragmented security tools across development lifecyclenot Envoy
  • Cloud infrastructure security posture monitoringnot Envoy
  • Supply chain attack prevention and malware detectionnot Envoy

Envoy

  • Acting as the data plane under a service mesh or Gateway API implementation, which is how the overwhelming majority of deployments use itnot Aikido
  • An edge or API gateway that needs per-route retry budgets, circuit breaking and outlier detection rather than round-robin proxyingnot Aikido
  • Migrating traffic between service versions or between a monolith and its replacement, using weighted splits and shadow trafficnot Aikido
  • Standardising observability across a polyglot estate, so that latency, error rates and tracing look the same regardless of the language a service is written innot Aikido

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Aikido

  • Free plan includes fair-usage limits on repos and container images
  • Pricing increases significantly with user and repository scale
  • Advanced features like penetration testing and VM scanning limited to higher tiers
  • Device protection limited to Development environments only
  • Requires multiple plan tiers for full platform coverage

Envoy

  • The configuration surface is very large and hand-written bootstrap YAML runs to hundreds of lines for routing that Nginx expresses in twenty, which is why nearly every production deployment sits under a control plane and inherits that control plane's constraints as well
  • xDS is the real API and it is not stable in the comfortable sense; the v2 API set was removed outright, resource types continue to be deprecated, and your control plane and Envoy binaries have to be upgraded roughly in step or the proxies stop accepting configuration
  • Extending it properly means writing a C++ filter and building and maintaining your own Envoy binary; the alternatives are Lua, which adds per-request overhead, and proxy-wasm, whose ABI has remained effectively experimental for years with a real performance cost
  • At sidecar density the per-proxy memory and CPU footprint is a measurable share of cluster capacity, since thousands of workloads each carry a full proxy, and this is precisely the cost that has pushed mesh projects towards node-level or ambient architectures
  • There is no single vendor selling support for Envoy itself; you get the community plus control-plane vendors such as Solo.io and Tetrate, so an Envoy-level production bug is your own engineers in a C++ codebase unless a support contract happens to cover it
  • Diagnosing why a request got a particular response involves reading config dumps, the stats endpoint and the RESPONSE_FLAGS codes in access logs rather than a readable error, which is a specific skill you must hire or spend months growing

Pricing, plan by plan

Aikido

Free
  • DeveloperFree
    • Up to 2 users
    • Dependency scanning (SCA)
    • SAST and AI SAST
  • Pro$600/mo
    • Up to 10 users
    • All Basic features
    • On-premise scanning
  • Advanced$600/mo
    • Up to 10 users
    • All Pro features
    • Broker for internal apps
  • EnterpriseOn request
    • Custom pricing for tailored modules
    • Dedicated account management
    • Custom SLAs

Envoy

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the Envoy review.

Which should you pick?

Choose Aikido if

  • You need static application security testing (sast).
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, CI/CD, IDE.
  • You also want software composition analysis (sca).
Aikido review

Choose Envoy if

  • You need xds dynamic configuration.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You also want protocol breadth.
Envoy review

Questions people ask

Is Aikido or Envoy better?
Neither clearly leads. Aikido starts at Free and Envoy at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Aikido or Envoy?
Aikido starts at Free and Envoy at Free.
Does Aikido or Envoy run on more platforms?
Aikido runs on Web, CI/CD, IDE. Envoy runs on Web.
Can I use Aikido for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Aikido best used for?
Aikido is most often used for developer-friendly security integrated into pr workflows, automated vulnerability remediation with context-aware alerts, consolidation of fragmented security tools across development lifecycle, cloud infrastructure security posture monitoring. Of those, developer-friendly security integrated into pr workflows and automated vulnerability remediation with context-aware alerts are not what Envoy is typically brought in for.
What can Aikido do that Envoy cannot?
Aikido covers Static Application Security Testing (SAST), Software Composition Analysis (SCA), AutoFix, Secrets detection. Envoy covers xDS dynamic configuration, Protocol breadth, Filter chain architecture, Observability by default.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Aikido: What is included in Aikido's free Developer plan?

The free Developer plan includes up to 2 users with SAST, SCA, secrets detection, cloud scanning, and license risk detection. Fair-usage limits apply: 10 repos, 2 container images, 1 domain, and 1 cloud account.

Source
Envoy: Should I run Envoy on its own, or under a control plane?

Almost always under one. Directly authoring xDS or static bootstrap configuration is viable for a handful of routes and becomes unmanageable beyond that. Envoy Gateway, Istio, Contour, Gloo and Consul all exist to generate that configuration for you.

Aikido: What is AutoFix and how does it work?

AutoFix is Aikido's automated vulnerability remediation feature that identifies vulnerabilities and suggests or applies specific code fixes automatically, reducing manual remediation effort.

Source
Envoy: How does it compare with Nginx or HAProxy?

Envoy is dynamically configured over an API and instrumented far more heavily; Nginx and HAProxy are faster to configure and lighter for straightforward reverse proxying. If you never need to change routing without a reload, Envoy is more machinery than the problem requires.

Aikido: How many false positives does Aikido reduce?

Aikido reduces false positives by 99%, using AI-powered context awareness to filter noise and focus on vulnerabilities that present real business risk.

Source
Envoy: What does it cost?

Nothing to licence; it is Apache 2.0 and there is no paid edition. The cost is engineering time and, for most organisations, a commercial control plane or cloud service that packages it.

Aikido: What integrations does Aikido support?

Aikido integrates with Jira, Linear, Slack, Teams, GitHub, GitLab, and other popular development tools to fit into existing workflows.

Source
Envoy: Can I write extensions without C++?

You can write Lua filters or proxy-wasm modules in Rust, Go, C++ or AssemblyScript. Both carry per-request overhead compared with a native filter, and the Wasm path has been slower to stabilise than the project originally projected.

Envoy: Is it a CNCF project?

Yes, it is a graduated CNCF project licensed under Apache 2.0, which means the trademark and governance sit with the foundation rather than with Lyft or any vendor.

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