Cloud · head to head
Cilium vs OpenEBS
Cilium
Cloud
eBPF-based networking, observability and security for Kubernetes
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Each has a real cost: Cilium requires a recent Linux kernel, which rules out older distributions and some managed environments; OpenEBS there is no vendor on the other end of an incident unless you separately contract DataCore, so an outage at three in the morning is resolved by your own team and a public Slack channel.
- They diverge on capability: Cilium covers eBPF datapath, OpenEBS covers Replicated engine.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Cilium and OpenEBS actually diverge.
Identical on both: starting price (Free), pricing model (Open source, no licence fee), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Cloud).
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 Cilium
- eBPF datapath
- Identity-based policy
- Hubble observability
- Sidecar-free mesh
Only in OpenEBS
- Replicated engine
- Local PV engines
- Kubernetes-native management
- Snapshots and clones
- No licence fee
- Hardware independence
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
Cilium
- Kubernetes networking at a scale where iptables-based CNI performance degradesnot OpenEBS
- Network policy expressed on workload identity rather than fragile IP rulesnot OpenEBS
- Seeing which services actually talk to each other, and what policy is droppingnot OpenEBS
OpenEBS
- Running Cassandra or Kafka on Kubernetes where the application already replicates and node-local volumes are sufficientnot Cilium
- A platform team that needs persistent volumes on bare metal Kubernetes without a per node subscriptionnot Cilium
- An edge or lab deployment where a commercial storage licence cannot be justifiednot Cilium
- Replacing hostpath volumes with something that has snapshots and a Container Storage Interface drivernot Cilium
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
Cilium
- Requires a recent Linux kernel, which rules out older distributions and some managed environments
- eBPF is genuinely hard to debug when it misbehaves, and the skill is rare on most teams
- Broad scope — CNI, policy, mesh, observability — means the learning curve covers several domains at once
OpenEBS
- There is no vendor on the other end of an incident unless you separately contract DataCore, so an outage at three in the morning is resolved by your own team and a public Slack channel.
- The project has several storage engines with different maturity and different operational characteristics, and choosing the wrong one for your workload produces poor results that look like a product failure.
- Documentation and upgrade guidance assume real Kubernetes storage knowledge, so teams without that expertise underestimate the operational load they are taking on.
- Project governance shifted after DataCore acquired MayaData in 2021, which means the direction of a supposedly neutral project is influenced by one commercial sponsor.
- Disaster recovery, cross-cluster replication and policy-driven data services are thinner than in the commercial alternatives, so organisations with those requirements end up building them or buying a product anyway.
Pricing, plan by plan
Cilium
Free- CiliumFree
- Full functionality
- No usage limits
- Community support
OpenEBS
Free- OpenEBSFree
- Apache 2.0 licensed
- All storage engines included
- No node or capacity limits
Which should you pick?
Choose Cilium if
- You need ebpf datapath.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Kubernetes, Linux.
- You also want identity-based policy.
Choose OpenEBS if
- You need replicated engine.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Linux.
- You also want local pv engines.
Questions people ask
- Is Cilium or OpenEBS better?
- Neither clearly leads. Cilium starts at Free and OpenEBS at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Cilium or OpenEBS?
- Cilium starts at Free and OpenEBS at Free.
- Does Cilium or OpenEBS run on more platforms?
- Cilium runs on Kubernetes, Linux. OpenEBS runs on Linux.
- Can I use Cilium for free?
- Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
- What is Cilium best used for?
- Cilium is most often used for kubernetes networking at a scale where iptables-based cni performance degrades, network policy expressed on workload identity rather than fragile ip rules, seeing which services actually talk to each other, and what policy is dropping. Of those, kubernetes networking at a scale where iptables-based cni performance degrades and network policy expressed on workload identity rather than fragile ip rules are not what OpenEBS is typically brought in for.
- What can Cilium do that OpenEBS cannot?
- Cilium covers eBPF datapath, Identity-based policy, Hubble observability, Sidecar-free mesh. OpenEBS covers Replicated engine, Local PV engines, Kubernetes-native management, Snapshots and clones.
Answered from the vendors’ own pages
Cilium: Is Cilium free?
Yes, open source and CNCF-graduated. Isovalent sells an enterprise distribution and support.
OpenEBS: Who supports it in production?
The project is community supported. Commercial support is available from DataCore, which acquired the original sponsor MayaData in 2021. Establish that relationship before production, not during an incident.
Cilium: What does eBPF change?
It lets Cilium run packet-processing programs inside the kernel instead of relying on iptables rule chains, which behave poorly as the number of services grows.
OpenEBS: Which engine should we use?
If your application replicates its own data, use a Local engine and avoid replicating twice. If it does not, such as with PostgreSQL, use the Replicated engine.
Cilium: Does Cilium replace a service mesh?
It can cover much of what a mesh does without sidecars, though full mesh feature sets still favour Istio or Linkerd.
OpenEBS: Does it cost anything?
No licence fee. The cost is operational, and a support contract if you want someone accountable.
Related pages
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