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Developer Tools · head to head

Envoy vs Rhombus Systems

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
Rhombus Systems logo

Rhombus Systems

Cybersecurity

Cloud-managed cameras, sensors and access control with a per-camera annual licence

From
$149/year
Free plan
No
Visit Rhombus SystemsFull review

The short version

  • Envoy is free; Rhombus Systems starts at $149/yr.
  • Only Envoy lists xDS dynamic configuration; only Rhombus Systems lists on-camera storage.
  • Prices and features on this page were last checked on 13 November 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Envoy and Rhombus Systems actually diverge.

Attributes where Envoy and Rhombus Systems differ
AttributeEnvoyRhombus Systems
Starting priceFree$149/year
Pricing modelOpen-sourcePer camera per year licence plus hardware
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsWebWeb, iOS, Android
CategoryDeveloper ToolsCybersecurity

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 Rhombus Systems

  • On-camera storage
  • No NVR or server
  • AI search
  • Access control
  • Environmental sensors
  • Unlimited users
  • Ten year hardware warranty
  • Optional cloud archiving

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 Rhombus Systems
  • An edge or API gateway that needs per-route retry budgets, circuit breaking and outlier detection rather than round-robin proxyingnot Rhombus Systems
  • Migrating traffic between service versions or between a monolith and its replacement, using weighted splits and shadow trafficnot Rhombus Systems
  • 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 Rhombus Systems

Rhombus Systems

  • A school district running video across dozens of buildings with no local IT at each sitenot Envoy
  • A clinic group needing door access and cameras in one console under a single audit trailnot Envoy
  • A logistics operator that wants to search for a specific vehicle across sites without scrubbing footagenot Envoy
  • An office estate replacing ageing NVRs where nobody remains who knows how to maintain themnot 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

Rhombus Systems

  • The per-camera annual licence never ends and a camera without an active licence stops working, so the total cost over a ten-year hardware life is several times the hardware price
  • Cameras must be Rhombus, so there is no reuse of existing IP cameras and migrating away means replacing every device rather than changing software
  • Cloud archiving is priced separately by retention and stream count, and long retention on multisensor cameras runs into five figures per camera, which can dwarf everything else in the quote
  • On-camera storage is the default retention, so a camera physically stolen or destroyed takes its unarchived footage with it unless cloud archiving was paid for on that camera
  • Analytics and integrations are good for mid-market needs but shallower than a dedicated enterprise VMS with a large third-party ecosystem, so specialist requirements like advanced LPR or forensic search hit limits

Pricing, plan by plan

Envoy

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the Envoy review.

Rhombus Systems

$149/year
  • Professional$149/yr
    • Per camera per year
    • Cloud console and management
    • On-camera storage retention
  • Enterprise$199/yr
    • Per camera per year
    • Everything in Professional
    • Flexible cloud archiving options
  • Cloud archivingOn request
    • Priced separately by retention period and stream count
    • Multisensor cameras cost several times a single sensor camera
    • Long retention on multisensor models can reach five figures per camera

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 Rhombus Systems if

  • You need on-camera storage.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want no nvr or server.
Rhombus Systems review

Questions people ask

Is Envoy or Rhombus Systems better?
Neither clearly leads. Envoy starts at Free and Rhombus Systems at $149/year, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Envoy or Rhombus Systems?
Envoy has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Envoy and $149/year for Rhombus Systems.
Does Envoy or Rhombus Systems run on more platforms?
Envoy runs on Web. Rhombus Systems runs on Web, iOS, Android.
Can I use Envoy for free?
Yes. Envoy has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Rhombus Systems starts at $149/year.
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 Rhombus Systems is typically brought in for.
What can Envoy do that Rhombus Systems cannot?
Envoy covers xDS dynamic configuration, Protocol breadth, Filter chain architecture, Observability by default. Rhombus Systems covers On-camera storage, No NVR or server, AI search, Access control.

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.

Rhombus Systems: Do I need an NVR or a server?

No. Cameras record on board and connect directly to the cloud console, which is the main operational reason organisations pick it.

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.

Rhombus Systems: What does the licence cost?

Roughly $149 per camera per year for Professional and about $199 for Enterprise, typically sold in one, three, five or ten year terms.

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.

Rhombus Systems: Is cloud storage included?

No. On-camera storage is the default. Cloud archiving is a separate charge priced by retention duration and number of streams.

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.

Rhombus Systems: Can I use my existing cameras?

No. The platform works only with Rhombus hardware, which is the trade-off for the zero-server architecture.

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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