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Cybersecurity · head to head

Drata vs Envoy

Drata logo

Drata

Cybersecurity

Agentic trust management with compliance automation.

From
On request
Free plan
No
Visit DrataFull 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

  • Drata is a compliance automation platform.
  • Envoy is free; Drata prices on request.
  • Where Drata falls short: no published pricing for any tier; requires contacting sales team for quotes.
  • Prices and features on this page were last checked on 13 November 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Drata and Envoy actually diverge.

Attributes where Drata and Envoy differ
AttributeDrataEnvoy
Starting priceOn requestFree
Pricing modelSubscriptionOpen-source
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWeb, APIWeb
CategoryCybersecurityDeveloper Tools

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 Drata

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.

Drata

  • SaaS companies automating SOC 2 certification for enterprise salesnot Envoy
  • Organisations managing multi-framework compliance simultaneouslynot Envoy
  • Vendor management programmes requiring third-party security assessmentsnot Envoy
  • Enterprises implementing AI governance and monitoring AI systemsnot Envoy
  • Organisations seeking continuous compliance monitoring rather than point-in-time auditsnot 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 Drata
  • An edge or API gateway that needs per-route retry budgets, circuit breaking and outlier detection rather than round-robin proxyingnot Drata
  • Migrating traffic between service versions or between a monolith and its replacement, using weighted splits and shadow trafficnot Drata
  • 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 Drata

Where each one falls short

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

Drata

  • No published pricing for any tier; requires contacting sales team for quotes
  • Solution tiers (Startup, Growth, Enterprise) are marketing categories with no corresponding published prices or feature differentiation
  • No transparency on cost per framework, per user, or based on organisational size
  • AI questionnaire automation claims 375+ hours saved annually but does not publish per-questionnaire costs or limits
  • Compared directly with Vanta by customers, but pricing opaque for cost-benefit analysis

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

Drata

On request
  • StartupOn request
    • 'Launch Trust Fast' with automated evidence collection
    • SOC 2 and other framework support
    • Basic compliance automation
  • GrowthOn request
    • 'Accelerate Trust Smoothly' as teams expand
    • Multi-framework compliance
    • Enhanced AI automation
  • EnterpriseOn request
    • 'Command Trust at Scale' for complex needs
    • Advanced GRC capabilities
    • Dedicated support

Envoy

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the Envoy review.

Which should you pick?

Choose Drata if

  • You work on Web, API.
Drata 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 Drata or Envoy better?
Neither clearly leads. Drata starts at On request and Envoy at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Drata or Envoy?
Envoy has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for Drata and Free for Envoy.
Does Drata or Envoy run on more platforms?
Drata runs on Web, API. Envoy runs on Web.
Can I use Envoy for free?
Yes. Envoy has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Drata starts at On request.
What is Drata best used for?
Drata is most often used for saas companies automating soc 2 certification for enterprise sales, organisations managing multi-framework compliance simultaneously, vendor management programmes requiring third-party security assessments, enterprises implementing ai governance and monitoring ai systems. Of those, saas companies automating soc 2 certification for enterprise sales and organisations managing multi-framework compliance simultaneously are not what Envoy is typically brought in for.
What can Drata do that Envoy cannot?
Envoy covers xDS dynamic configuration, Protocol breadth, Filter chain architecture, Observability by default.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Drata: What compliance frameworks does Drata support?

Drata supports multiple frameworks including SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR, HIPAA, PCI DSS and others, with multi-framework management capabilities.

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.

Drata: Does Drata automate questionnaires?

Yes. Drata's AI uses approved content to draft consistent responses, automating questionnaire completion and saving claimed 375+ hours per year.

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.

Drata: How many customers does Drata have?

Drata serves 8,500+ global customers ranging from startups to enterprises, with a 4.8/5.0 rating on G2.

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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