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Cloud · head to head

Cerebrium vs HAProxy

Cerebrium logo

Cerebrium

Cloud

Serverless GPU infrastructure for real-time AI inference and applications

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
HAProxy logo

HAProxy

Cloud

High-performance TCP and HTTP load balancer

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Cerebrium free Hobby tier limited to 3 apps and 5 GPU concurrency; HAProxy configuration syntax is dense and unforgiving, with a steep initial learning curve
  • They diverge on capability: Cerebrium covers Ultra-fast cold starts, HAProxy covers High throughput.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Cerebrium and HAProxy actually diverge.

Attributes where Cerebrium and HAProxy differ
AttributeCerebriumHAProxy
Pricing modelFreemium with monthly plans and per-second compute chargesOpen source, no licence fee
PlatformsCloud, DockerLinux, Docker, Kubernetes, Self-hosted

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

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 Cerebrium

  • Ultra-fast cold starts
  • Elastic scaling
  • Bring your own code
  • Multi-region failover
  • WebSocket and streaming
  • Asynchronous jobs
  • CI/CD with gradual rollouts
  • OpenTelemetry integration

Only in HAProxy

  • High throughput
  • Layer 4 and 7
  • Health checking
  • Rate limiting and ACLs

What people use each for

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

Cerebrium

  • Deploying voice agents and conversational AI applicationsnot HAProxy
  • Video and image model serving with low latencynot HAProxy
  • LLM inference and completion endpointsnot HAProxy
  • Real-time embeddings and vector database operationsnot HAProxy
  • Distributed model training with hyperparameter sweepsnot HAProxy

HAProxy

  • Load balancing at traffic levels where proxy efficiency shows up in the hardware billnot Cerebrium
  • Precise traffic control — rate limits, sticky sessions, complex routing rulesnot Cerebrium
  • TCP load balancing for databases and non-HTTP servicesnot Cerebrium

Where each one falls short

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

Cerebrium

  • Free Hobby tier limited to 3 apps and 5 GPU concurrency
  • Standard plan at $100/month required for production deployments
  • Per-second compute pricing requires continuous cost monitoring
  • Storage costs add up for large model files

HAProxy

  • Configuration syntax is dense and unforgiving, with a steep initial learning curve
  • No automatic certificate management, unlike newer servers that treat it as default behaviour
  • The built-in stats page is basic, so real observability needs exporters and dashboards
  • A dedicated load balancer is more machinery than small deployments need

Pricing, plan by plan

Cerebrium

Free
  • HobbyFree
    • 3 user seats
    • Up to 3 deployed apps
    • 5 GPU concurrency
  • Standard$100/month
    • Unlimited seats and apps
    • 30 GPU concurrency
    • Custom domains
  • Enterprise$undefined/custom
    • Unlimited resources
    • Volume discounts
    • Dedicated support
  • GPU Compute$undefined/per-second
    • T4: $0.000164/s
    • H100: $0.00167/s

HAProxy

Free
  • HAProxyFree
    • Full functionality
    • No usage limits
    • Community support

Which should you pick?

Choose Cerebrium if

  • You need ultra-fast cold starts.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Cloud, Docker.
  • You also want elastic scaling.
Cerebrium review

Choose HAProxy if

  • You need high throughput.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, Self-hosted.
  • You also want layer 4 and 7.
HAProxy review

Questions people ask

Is Cerebrium or HAProxy better?
Neither clearly leads. Cerebrium starts at Free and HAProxy at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Cerebrium or HAProxy?
Cerebrium starts at Free and HAProxy at Free.
Does Cerebrium or HAProxy run on more platforms?
Cerebrium runs on Cloud, Docker. HAProxy runs on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, Self-hosted.
Can I use Cerebrium for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Cerebrium best used for?
Cerebrium is most often used for deploying voice agents and conversational ai applications, video and image model serving with low latency, llm inference and completion endpoints, real-time embeddings and vector database operations. Of those, deploying voice agents and conversational ai applications and video and image model serving with low latency are not what HAProxy is typically brought in for.
What can Cerebrium do that HAProxy cannot?
Cerebrium covers Ultra-fast cold starts, Elastic scaling, Bring your own code, Multi-region failover. HAProxy covers High throughput, Layer 4 and 7, Health checking, Rate limiting and ACLs.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Cerebrium: Is Cerebrium only for inference or can it train models?

Cerebrium supports both inference serving and model training with hyperparameter sweeps. It enables deployment of voice agents, LLMs, video models, and other AI applications.

Source
HAProxy: Is HAProxy free?

Yes, the community version is open source. HAProxy Technologies sells HAProxy Enterprise separately.

Cerebrium: How do the cold starts compare to other platforms?

Cerebrium achieves 2-4 second cold starts through memory and GPU snapshotting, significantly faster than traditional 30+ second cold boots. This is competitive with platforms like Beam Cloud.

Source
HAProxy: HAProxy or Nginx?

HAProxy is a specialist load balancer with deeper balancing and health-check features. Nginx also serves static content and is more approachable, which is why it is more common as a general web server.

Cerebrium: What compliance certifications does Cerebrium have?

Cerebrium maintains SOC 2 Type II compliance, HIPAA certification, GDPR compliance, and ISO certification. It provides gVisor container isolation and configurable data residency for regulated workloads.

Source
HAProxy: Does HAProxy handle TLS certificates automatically?

No. Certificate issuance and renewal are external, unlike Caddy where it is automatic.

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