Web Development · head to head
Carrd vs Envoy
Carrd
Web Development
Ultra-affordable one-page site builder.
- From
- Free
- Free plan
- Yes
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
The short version
- Envoy is free; Carrd starts at $19/yr.
- Where Carrd falls short: free tier strictly limited to 3 sites; any additional sites require upgrading to Pro.
- Prices and features on this page were last checked on 13 November 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Carrd and Envoy actually diverge.
Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes).
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 Carrd
Nothing recorded that Envoy does not also cover.
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.
Carrd
- Indie makers and solopreneurs building personal portfolios or landing pagesnot Envoy
- Small business owners requiring minimal online presence at low costnot Envoy
- Link-in-bio alternatives for social media profiles and contact pagesnot Envoy
- Email capture pages for newsletters or lead magnetsnot Envoy
- Cost-conscious teams requiring a cheap website alternative to Webflow or Squarespacenot 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 Carrd
- An edge or API gateway that needs per-route retry budgets, circuit breaking and outlier detection rather than round-robin proxyingnot Carrd
- Migrating traffic between service versions or between a monolith and its replacement, using weighted splits and shadow trafficnot Carrd
- 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 Carrd
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
Carrd
- Free tier strictly limited to 3 sites; any additional sites require upgrading to Pro
- Pro plan includes Carrd branding removal but still lacks advanced features (e-commerce, multi-step funnels, complex forms)
- Single-page design only; does not support multi-page websites or complex site structures
- Limited template library compared to competitors like Leadpages or Unbounce
- Annual payment required for Pro tier; no monthly payment option
- No native A/B testing, analytics dashboard or conversion optimisation tools built-in
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
Carrd
Free- FreeFree
- 3 sites
- Responsive design
- Templates and blank pages
- Pro$19/yr
- Unlimited sites
- Custom domain with SSL
- Contact forms
Envoy
FreeNo published plan breakdown. See the Envoy review.
Which should you pick?
Choose Envoy if
- You need xds dynamic configuration.
- You want to start without paying.
- You also want protocol breadth.
Questions people ask
- Is Carrd or Envoy better?
- Neither clearly leads. Carrd 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, Carrd or Envoy?
- Carrd starts at Free and Envoy at Free.
- Does Carrd or Envoy run on more platforms?
- Carrd runs on Web, iOS, Android. Envoy runs on Web.
- Can I use Carrd for free?
- Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
- What is Carrd best used for?
- Carrd is most often used for indie makers and solopreneurs building personal portfolios or landing pages, small business owners requiring minimal online presence at low cost, link-in-bio alternatives for social media profiles and contact pages, email capture pages for newsletters or lead magnets. Of those, indie makers and solopreneurs building personal portfolios or landing pages and small business owners requiring minimal online presence at low cost are not what Envoy is typically brought in for.
- What can Carrd do that Envoy cannot?
- Envoy covers xDS dynamic configuration, Protocol breadth, Filter chain architecture, Observability by default.
Answered from the vendors’ own pages
Carrd: How much does Carrd cost?
Carrd is free for up to 3 sites. The Pro plan costs $19/year and enables unlimited sites with custom domains, forms and integrations.
SourceEnvoy: 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.
Carrd: Can I use Carrd for e-commerce?
Carrd's Pro plan supports payment forms with Stripe integration, but it is not a full e-commerce platform. Single-product sales or payment collection is possible, but inventory management and complex product catalogs are not supported.
SourceEnvoy: 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.
Carrd: Can I create multi-page websites with Carrd?
No. Carrd is designed for single-page sites only. For multi-page websites, you would need to use a full website builder like Webflow or Squarespace.
SourceEnvoy: 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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