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Technology · head to head

Attio vs Envoy

Attio logo

Attio

Technology

The CRM built for the next generation of companies

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Envoy logo

Envoy

Technology

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
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Attio the free plan stops at 3 seats and 50,000 records; 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.
  • They diverge on capability: Attio covers Custom data model, Envoy covers xDS dynamic configuration.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Attio and Envoy actually diverge.

Attributes where Attio and Envoy differ
AttributeAttioEnvoy
Pricing modelfreemiumopen-source
PlatformsWeb, Ios, Android, ApiWeb
Founded2021Unknown

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Technology).

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 Attio

  • Custom data model
  • Flexible views
  • Email integration
  • Calendar sync
  • Automations
  • Mobile app
  • Real-time collaboration
  • Templates

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.

Attio

  • Sales pipelinenot Envoy
  • Customer managementnot Envoy
  • Deal trackingnot Envoy
  • Investor relationsnot Envoy
  • Partnership managementnot 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 Attio
  • An edge or API gateway that needs per-route retry budgets, circuit breaking and outlier detection rather than round-robin proxyingnot Attio
  • Migrating traffic between service versions or between a monolith and its replacement, using weighted splits and shadow trafficnot Attio
  • 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 Attio

Where each one falls short

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

Attio

  • The free plan stops at 3 seats and 50,000 records
  • Outbound email is capped at 200 messages a month on the free plan and 1,000 on Plus
  • Call Intelligence, sequences, advanced reporting and permission controls all require the Pro tier
  • Custom objects are capped at 3 on free, 5 on Plus and 12 on Pro, with unlimited objects reserved for Enterprise
  • File storage is capped at 50 GB on the free and Plus tiers

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

Attio

Free
  • FreeFree
    • Up to 3 seats
    • 50000 records
    • 3 objects
  • Plus$44/month
    • Up to 10 seats
    • 250000 records
    • 5 objects
  • Pro$99/month
    • Unlimited seats
    • 1000000 records
    • 12 objects
  • EnterpriseFree
    • Custom pricing
    • Unlimited objects
    • Custom record limits

Envoy

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the Envoy review.

Which should you pick?

Choose Attio if

  • You need custom data model.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Ios, Android, Api.
  • You also want flexible views.
Attio 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 Attio or Envoy better?
Neither clearly leads. Attio 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, Attio or Envoy?
Attio starts at Free and Envoy at Free.
Does Attio or Envoy run on more platforms?
Attio runs on Web, Ios, Android, Api. Envoy runs on Web.
Can I use Attio for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Attio best used for?
Attio is most often used for sales pipeline, customer management, deal tracking, investor relations. Of those, sales pipeline and customer management are not what Envoy is typically brought in for.
What can Attio do that Envoy cannot?
Attio covers Custom data model, Flexible views, Email integration, Calendar sync. Envoy covers xDS dynamic configuration, Protocol breadth, Filter chain architecture, Observability by default.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Attio: How much does Attio cost per user?

Attio's Plus plan is $44/user/month (or $35/month annually with 20% discount). Pro is $99/user/month (or $79/month annually). The Free plan includes up to 3 seats at no cost.

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.

Attio: What are Attio's seat and record limits for each plan?

Free plan includes up to 3 seats with 50,000 records. Plus supports up to 10 seats with 250,000 records. Pro offers unlimited seats with 1 million records. Enterprise has custom record limits.

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.

Attio: Are there additional costs for Attio beyond the per-user subscription?

Yes, workspace credits are available as add-ons ($70-$475/month depending on volume). Annual billing provides a 20% discount on the base per-user cost.

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.

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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