Is Envoy or Heap better?

Neither clearly leads. Envoy starts at Free and Heap at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.

Which is cheaper, Envoy or Heap?

Envoy starts at Free and Heap at Free.

Does Envoy or Heap run on more platforms?

Envoy runs on Web. Heap runs on Web, iOS, Android.

Can I use Envoy for free?

Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.

What is Envoy best used for?

Envoy is most often used for acting as the data plane under a service mesh or gateway api implementation, which is how the overwhelming majority of deployments use it, an edge or api gateway that needs per-route retry budgets, circuit breaking and outlier detection rather than round-robin proxying, migrating traffic between service versions or between a monolith and its replacement, using weighted splits and shadow traffic, standardising observability across a polyglot estate, so that latency, error rates and tracing look the same regardless of the language a service is written in. Of those, acting as the data plane under a service mesh or gateway api implementation, which is how the overwhelming majority of deployments use it and an edge or api gateway that needs per-route retry budgets, circuit breaking and outlier detection rather than round-robin proxying are not what Heap is typically brought in for.

What can Envoy do that Heap cannot?

Envoy covers xDS dynamic configuration, Protocol breadth, Filter chain architecture, Observability by default. Heap covers Autocapture, Retroactive analytics, Session replay, Funnel analysis.

Technology · head to head

Envoy vs Heap

Envoy

Technology

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
Rated: -

Full review Website

Heap

Technology

Product analytics for the modern product team

From: Free
Rated: -

Full review Website

The short version

Each has a real cost: 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.; Heap no built-in A/B testing or feature flags; requires integration with separate tools for experimentation
They diverge on capability: Envoy covers xDS dynamic configuration, Heap covers Autocapture.
Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Envoy and Heap actually diverge.

Attributes where Envoy and Heap differ
Attribute	Envoy	Heap
Pricing model	open-source	Unknown
Platforms	Web	Web, iOS, Android
Founded	Unknown	2013

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

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 Envoy

xDS dynamic configuration
Protocol breadth
Filter chain architecture
Observability by default
Outlier detection
Traffic shaping
mTLS termination and origination
Hot restart

Only in Heap

Autocapture
Retroactive analytics
Session replay
Funnel analysis
User segmentation
Path analysis
Data science
Virtual events

What people use each for

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

Envoy

Acting as the data plane under a service mesh or Gateway API implementation, which is how the overwhelming majority of deployments use itnot Heap
An edge or API gateway that needs per-route retry budgets, circuit breaking and outlier detection rather than round-robin proxyingnot Heap
Migrating traffic between service versions or between a monolith and its replacement, using weighted splits and shadow trafficnot Heap
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 Heap

Heap

User behavior analysisnot Envoy
Conversion optimizationnot Envoy
Product adoptionnot Envoy
Customer journey mappingnot Envoy
A/B testing analysisnot Envoy

Where each one falls short

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

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.

Heap

No built-in A/B testing or feature flags; requires integration with separate tools for experimentation
Group analytics and advanced features require a sales conversation, not self-serve
Cloud-only deployment; no self-hosted option for data security or compliance requirements
Session replay lacks developer debugging tools compared to PostHog
Pricing for Growth and Pro plans requires direct sales contact; no transparency on how pricing scales

Pricing, plan by plan

Envoy

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the Envoy review.

Heap

Free

FreeFree
- Up to 10,000 monthly sessions
- Basic charts
- 6 months data history
Growth$undefined/custom
- Custom session pricing
- Sense AI assistant
- 12 months data history
Pro$undefined/custom
- Custom session pricing
- Account analytics
- Engagement matrix
Premier$undefined/custom
- Custom session pricing
- Data warehouse integration
- Unlimited projects

Which should you pick?

Choose Envoy if

You need xds dynamic configuration.
You want to start without paying.
You also want protocol breadth.

Envoy review

Choose Heap if

You need autocapture.
You want to start without paying.
You work on Web, iOS, Android.
You also want retroactive analytics.

Heap review

Questions people ask

Is Envoy or Heap better?: Neither clearly leads. Envoy starts at Free and Heap at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Envoy or Heap?: Envoy starts at Free and Heap at Free.
Does Envoy or Heap run on more platforms?: Envoy runs on Web. Heap runs on Web, iOS, Android.
Can I use Envoy for free?: Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Envoy best used for?: Envoy is most often used for acting as the data plane under a service mesh or gateway api implementation, which is how the overwhelming majority of deployments use it, an edge or api gateway that needs per-route retry budgets, circuit breaking and outlier detection rather than round-robin proxying, migrating traffic between service versions or between a monolith and its replacement, using weighted splits and shadow traffic, standardising observability across a polyglot estate, so that latency, error rates and tracing look the same regardless of the language a service is written in. Of those, acting as the data plane under a service mesh or gateway api implementation, which is how the overwhelming majority of deployments use it and an edge or api gateway that needs per-route retry budgets, circuit breaking and outlier detection rather than round-robin proxying are not what Heap is typically brought in for.
What can Envoy do that Heap cannot?: Envoy covers xDS dynamic configuration, Protocol breadth, Filter chain architecture, Observability by default. Heap covers Autocapture, Retroactive analytics, Session replay, Funnel analysis.

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.

Heap: What does Heap's autocapture feature do?

Heap's autocapture is a single code snippet that automatically captures every click, swipe, tap, pageview, and form fill on your website and apps without requiring manual event setup. Once installed, Heap captures the entire digital experience of every user on every platform with no ongoing engineering maintenance needed.

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.

Heap: What are Heap's pricing plans and how much do they cost?

Heap offers a Free plan for up to 10,000 monthly sessions. Growth, Pro, and Premier plans use custom session-based pricing that requires contacting sales for a quote. Free includes basic charts and 6 months data history. Growth adds the Sense AI assistant. Pro adds account analytics. Premier adds data warehouse integration and dedicated customer success management.

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.

Heap: Does Heap include session replay and A/B testing?

Heap includes integrated session replay showing exactly what users did on your site. However, Heap does not include built-in A/B testing or feature flags. Teams requiring these capabilities must use separate tools or integrate with third-party platforms.

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.

Heap: What integrations does Heap support?

Heap supports over 100 integrations connecting to business tools including marketing platforms, CRMs, and data warehouses. This allows insights to reach relevant teams and ensures data flows to other business systems automatically.

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.

Heap: Does Heap offer self-hosting or is it cloud-only?

Heap is cloud-only and does not offer self-hosted options. Organizations requiring on-premises deployment should consider alternatives like PostHog which supports self-hosting alongside its cloud product.

Source

Heap: What is Sense and how does it help with analytics?

Sense Chat is Heap's AI assistant that enables users to access analytics without extensive technical knowledge. It allows teams to ask questions about user behavior and get answers directly without lengthy onboarding or technical expertise, making insights more accessible to non-technical stakeholders.

Source

Envoy vs Heap

Envoy

Heap

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in Envoy

Only in Heap

What people use each for

Envoy

Heap

Where each one falls short

Envoy

Heap

Pricing, plan by plan

Envoy

Heap

Which should you pick?

Choose Envoy if

Choose Heap if

Questions people ask

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Related pages

More on Envoy

More on Heap

Keep looking

Other head to heads