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Cloud · head to head

Deno Deploy vs Envoy

Deno Deploy logo

Deno Deploy

Cloud

Serverless JavaScript at the edge

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Visit Deno DeployFull 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

  • Deno Deploy is a distributed system.
  • Envoy is free; Deno Deploy starts at $20/mo.
  • Only Deno Deploy lists edge Functions; only Envoy lists xDS dynamic configuration.
  • Where Deno Deploy falls short: smaller ecosystem compared to AWS Lambda with fewer third-party integrations.
  • Prices and features on this page were last checked on 13 November 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Deno Deploy and Envoy actually diverge.

Attributes where Deno Deploy and Envoy differ
AttributeDeno DeployEnvoy
CategoryCloudDeveloper Tools

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

Not yet recorded: pricing model for Deno Deploy, 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 Deno Deploy

  • Edge Functions
  • Deno KV
  • Automatic HTTPS
  • Global Distribution
  • Zero Config Deploy
  • Git Integration
  • Instant Rollbacks
  • Web Standard APIs

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.

Deno Deploy

  • API endpointsnot Envoy
  • Edge functionsnot Envoy
  • Static sitesnot Envoy
  • Real-time appsnot 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 Deno Deploy
  • An edge or API gateway that needs per-route retry budgets, circuit breaking and outlier detection rather than round-robin proxyingnot Deno Deploy
  • Migrating traffic between service versions or between a monolith and its replacement, using weighted splits and shadow trafficnot Deno Deploy
  • 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 Deno Deploy

Where each one falls short

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

Deno Deploy

  • Smaller ecosystem compared to AWS Lambda with fewer third-party integrations
  • Less mature than established serverless platforms; newer company and platform
  • 1GB deployment size limit may restrict larger applications
  • 512MB memory limit lower than some competitors for memory-intensive workloads
  • Smaller user base and community compared to Lambda or Netlify

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

Deno Deploy

Free
  • FreeFree
    • 1M requests/month
    • 100GB outbound bandwidth
    • 50ms CPU time per request
  • Pro$20/mo
    • Unlimited requests
    • 5GB KV storage
    • Priority support

Envoy

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the Envoy review.

Which should you pick?

Choose Deno Deploy if

  • You need edge functions.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You also want deno kv.
Deno Deploy 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 Deno Deploy or Envoy better?
Neither clearly leads. Deno Deploy 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, Deno Deploy or Envoy?
Deno Deploy starts at Free and Envoy at Free.
Does Deno Deploy or Envoy run on more platforms?
Both run on Web, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
Can I use Deno Deploy for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Deno Deploy best used for?
Deno Deploy is most often used for api endpoints, edge functions, static sites, real-time apps. Of those, api endpoints and edge functions are not what Envoy is typically brought in for.
What can Deno Deploy do that Envoy cannot?
Deno Deploy covers Edge Functions, Deno KV, Automatic HTTPS, Global Distribution. Envoy covers xDS dynamic configuration, Protocol breadth, Filter chain architecture, Observability by default.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Deno Deploy: What does Deno Deploy's free tier include?

Deno Deploy free tier includes 1 million requests per month, 100 GB of outbound bandwidth, 50 milliseconds of CPU time per request, 50 custom domains, 1 GiB of KV storage, and up to 5 team members.

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.

Deno Deploy: What are Deno Deploy's Pro plan features and pricing?

Deno Deploy Pro costs $20/month and removes request limits, increases KV storage to 5GB, and includes priority support. Additional storage beyond 5GB costs $0.75/GiB.

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.

Deno Deploy: What are the deployment size and memory limits for Deno Deploy?

The total size of all files within a deployment (source files and static files) should not exceed 1 gigabyte. Applications have a maximum memory allocation of 512MB.

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.

Deno Deploy: Does Deno Deploy support TypeScript natively?

Yes. Deno Deploy runs TypeScript natively with zero-configuration TypeScript support. Code can be written in TypeScript or JavaScript and runs on the same V8 engine.

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.

Deno Deploy: What security features does Deno Deploy provide?

Deno Deploy features an opt-in permission system to mitigate supply chain attacks. Permissions can be explicitly granted for file, network, and environment access, running code securely by default.

Source
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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