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Cybersecurity · head to head

Enpass vs Envoy

Enpass logo

Enpass

Cybersecurity

Offline-first password manager that stores your vault locally instead of the cloud

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Visit EnpassFull 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

  • Envoy is free; Enpass starts at $1.99/mo.
  • Only Enpass lists offline vaults; only Envoy lists xDS dynamic configuration.
  • Where Enpass falls short: no built-in cloud sync of its own, so users must configure a third-party storage provider for multi-device sync.
  • Prices and features on this page were last checked on 13 November 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Enpass and Envoy actually diverge.

Attributes where Enpass and Envoy differ
AttributeEnpassEnvoy
Pricing modelFreemiumOpen-source
PlatformsWeb, iOS, Android, Windows, macOS, LinuxWeb
CategoryCybersecurityDeveloper Tools

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 Enpass

  • Offline vaults
  • Bring-your-own-cloud sync
  • Autofill and password generator
  • Password audit
  • Business admin console
  • Cross-platform apps

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.

Enpass

  • Storing passwords without trusting a vendor's cloudnot Envoy
  • Syncing a vault via personal cloud storagenot Envoy
  • Managing a household's shared loginsnot Envoy
  • Provisioning team vaults with SSO-adjacent admin controlsnot 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 Enpass
  • An edge or API gateway that needs per-route retry budgets, circuit breaking and outlier detection rather than round-robin proxyingnot Enpass
  • Migrating traffic between service versions or between a monolith and its replacement, using weighted splits and shadow trafficnot Enpass
  • 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 Enpass

Where each one falls short

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

Enpass

  • No built-in cloud sync of its own, so users must configure a third-party storage provider for multi-device sync
  • Mobile Lite tier caps vaults at 25 items, pushing active mobile users toward a paid plan quickly
  • Lacks dark web monitoring and breach alerting found in some competing password managers
  • Team/business plan lacks a native SSO login option comparable to enterprise-grade competitors

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

Enpass

Free
  • LiteFree
    • Up to 25 items on mobile
    • Unlimited items on desktop trial
    • No cloud sync
  • Individual$1.99/mo
    • Unlimited items
    • Cloud sync via own storage provider
    • Unlimited devices
  • Family$2.99/mo
    • Up to 6 members
    • Shared vaults
    • Unlimited devices per member
  • Business$1.99/mo
    • Per-user pricing billed yearly
    • Admin console
    • Microsoft 365 / Google Workspace integration

Envoy

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the Envoy review.

Which should you pick?

Choose Enpass if

  • You need offline vaults.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android, Windows, macOS, Linux.
  • You also want bring-your-own-cloud sync.
Enpass 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 Enpass or Envoy better?
Neither clearly leads. Enpass 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, Enpass or Envoy?
Enpass starts at Free and Envoy at Free.
Does Enpass or Envoy run on more platforms?
Enpass runs on Web, iOS, Android, Windows, macOS, Linux. Envoy runs on Web.
Can I use Enpass for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Enpass best used for?
Enpass is most often used for storing passwords without trusting a vendor's cloud, syncing a vault via personal cloud storage, managing a household's shared logins, provisioning team vaults with sso-adjacent admin controls. Of those, storing passwords without trusting a vendor's cloud and syncing a vault via personal cloud storage are not what Envoy is typically brought in for.
What can Enpass do that Envoy cannot?
Enpass covers Offline vaults, Bring-your-own-cloud sync, Autofill and password generator, Password audit. Envoy covers xDS dynamic configuration, Protocol breadth, Filter chain architecture, Observability by default.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

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.

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.

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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