Is Cilium or Wasabi better?

Neither clearly leads. Cilium starts at Free and Wasabi at $7.99/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.

Which is cheaper, Cilium or Wasabi?

Cilium has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Cilium and $7.99/month for Wasabi.

Does Cilium or Wasabi run on more platforms?

Cilium runs on Kubernetes, Linux. Wasabi runs on Web, API.

Can I use Cilium for free?

Yes. Cilium has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Wasabi starts at $7.99/month.

What is Cilium best used for?

Cilium is most often used for kubernetes networking at a scale where iptables-based cni performance degrades, network policy expressed on workload identity rather than fragile ip rules, seeing which services actually talk to each other, and what policy is dropping. Of those, kubernetes networking at a scale where iptables-based cni performance degrades and network policy expressed on workload identity rather than fragile ip rules are not what Wasabi is typically brought in for.

What can Cilium do that Wasabi cannot?

Cilium covers eBPF datapath, Identity-based policy, Hubble observability, Sidecar-free mesh. Wasabi covers Hot Cloud Storage, S3 Compatible API, Object Lock, Versioning.

Cloud · head to head

Cilium vs Wasabi

Cilium

Cloud

eBPF-based networking, observability and security for Kubernetes

From: Free
Rated: -

Full review Website

Wasabi

Cloud

Hot cloud storage without egress fees

From: $7.99/month
Rated: -

Full review Website

The short version

Only Cilium has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
Each has a real cost: Cilium requires a recent Linux kernel, which rules out older distributions and some managed environments; Wasabi 90-day minimum storage duration with no option to delete before full period without penalty
They diverge on capability: Cilium covers eBPF datapath, Wasabi covers Hot Cloud Storage.
Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Cilium and Wasabi actually diverge.

Attributes where Cilium and Wasabi differ
Attribute	Cilium	Wasabi
Starting price	Free	$7.99/month
Pricing model	Open source, no licence fee	Unknown
Free tier	Yes	No
Platforms	Kubernetes, Linux	Web, API
Founded	Unknown	2015

Identical on both: 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 Cilium

eBPF datapath
Identity-based policy
Hubble observability
Sidecar-free mesh

Only in Wasabi

Hot Cloud Storage
S3 Compatible API
Object Lock
Versioning
Multi-region
Data Migration Tools
Immutability
Ransomware Protection

What people use each for

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

Cilium

Kubernetes networking at a scale where iptables-based CNI performance degradesnot Wasabi
Network policy expressed on workload identity rather than fragile IP rulesnot Wasabi
Seeing which services actually talk to each other, and what policy is droppingnot Wasabi

Wasabi

Backup and recoverynot Cilium
Media storagenot Cilium
Archive replacementnot Cilium
Ransomware protectionnot Cilium

Where each one falls short

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

Cilium

Requires a recent Linux kernel, which rules out older distributions and some managed environments
eBPF is genuinely hard to debug when it misbehaves, and the skill is rare on most teams
Broad scope — CNI, policy, mesh, observability — means the learning curve covers several domains at once

Wasabi

90-day minimum storage duration with no option to delete before full period without penalty
Significantly smaller global footprint than AWS with only 16 regions, resulting in higher latency for users in underserved regions
Performance can degrade with high-volume transactions requiring throughput management strategies
Hot storage only, no cold/archival storage tier for long-term data at lower cost
Support responsiveness gaps with teams experiencing multi-day waits for critical issue resolution

Pricing, plan by plan

Cilium

Free

CiliumFree
- Full functionality
- No usage limits
- Community support

Wasabi

$7.99/month

No published plan breakdown. See the Wasabi review.

Which should you pick?

Choose Cilium if

You need ebpf datapath.
You want to start without paying.
You work on Kubernetes, Linux.
You also want identity-based policy.

Cilium review

Choose Wasabi if

You need hot cloud storage.
You work on Web, API.
You also want s3 compatible api.

Wasabi review

Questions people ask

Is Cilium or Wasabi better?: Neither clearly leads. Cilium starts at Free and Wasabi at $7.99/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Cilium or Wasabi?: Cilium has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Cilium and $7.99/month for Wasabi.
Does Cilium or Wasabi run on more platforms?: Cilium runs on Kubernetes, Linux. Wasabi runs on Web, API.
Can I use Cilium for free?: Yes. Cilium has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Wasabi starts at $7.99/month.
What is Cilium best used for?: Cilium is most often used for kubernetes networking at a scale where iptables-based cni performance degrades, network policy expressed on workload identity rather than fragile ip rules, seeing which services actually talk to each other, and what policy is dropping. Of those, kubernetes networking at a scale where iptables-based cni performance degrades and network policy expressed on workload identity rather than fragile ip rules are not what Wasabi is typically brought in for.
What can Cilium do that Wasabi cannot?: Cilium covers eBPF datapath, Identity-based policy, Hubble observability, Sidecar-free mesh. Wasabi covers Hot Cloud Storage, S3 Compatible API, Object Lock, Versioning.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Cilium: Is Cilium free?

Yes, open source and CNCF-graduated. Isovalent sells an enterprise distribution and support.

Wasabi: What is Wasabi's pricing structure?

Wasabi offers pay-as-you-go pricing at $7.99 per TB per month as of July 2026, with no egress or API request fees. Reserved capacity plans are available for multi-year terms with volume discounts.

Source

Cilium: What does eBPF change?

It lets Cilium run packet-processing programs inside the kernel instead of relying on iptables rule chains, which behave poorly as the number of services grows.

Wasabi: Does Wasabi charge for data downloads or API calls?

No. Wasabi includes zero egress fees and zero API request fees, which is a major cost advantage over AWS S3. Customers can plan their budget to the penny without worrying about surprise data transfer charges.

Source

Cilium: Does Cilium replace a service mesh?

It can cover much of what a mesh does without sidecars, though full mesh feature sets still favour Istio or Linkerd.

Wasabi: Is there a minimum storage duration requirement?

Yes. Wasabi enforces a 90-day minimum storage term. Users who delete data before 90 days are still charged for the full 90-day period.

Source

Wasabi: Is Wasabi S3-compatible?

Yes. Wasabi Hot Cloud Storage is fully S3-compatible, meaning organizations can integrate it into existing workflows without rewriting application code used with AWS S3.

Cilium vs Wasabi

Cilium

Wasabi

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in Cilium

Only in Wasabi

What people use each for

Cilium

Wasabi

Where each one falls short

Cilium

Wasabi

Pricing, plan by plan

Cilium

Wasabi

Which should you pick?

Choose Cilium if

Choose Wasabi if

Questions people ask

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Related pages

More on Cilium

More on Wasabi

Keep looking

Other head to heads