Envoy vs Seesaw: What are the differences?

Introduction

Envoy and Seesaw are both proxy technologies used for load balancing and high availability in distributed systems. While they both serve similar purposes, there are several key differences between the two.

1. Architecture: Envoy is designed as a modern, high-performance edge and service proxy, while Seesaw is a Linux virtual server (LVS)-based load balancing platform. Envoy operates at Layer 7 of the OSI model, providing more advanced application-level load balancing and control capabilities. Seesaw, on the other hand, works at Layer 4, focusing primarily on TCP and UDP load balancing.

2. Traffic Routing: Envoy supports more advanced traffic routing and control mechanisms, such as dynamic service discovery, intelligent routing based on various criteria like load, latency, and client characteristics. It also provides features like fault injection and network observability. Seesaw, on the other hand, primarily relies on static IP-based configuration for load balancing and does not offer as extensive routing capabilities.

3. Protocol Support: Envoy supports a wide range of protocols out of the box, including HTTP/1.1, HTTP/2, gRPC, WebSocket, and TCP. It also has built-in support for advanced features like service mesh integration and authentication. Seesaw, being a more traditional load balancer, primarily supports TCP and UDP protocols.

4. Performance and Scalability: Envoy is known for its exceptional performance and scalability, with efficient resource utilization and low latencies. It is built with a modern, asynchronous architecture that enables high throughput and can handle millions of concurrent connections. Seesaw, although capable of handling large amounts of traffic, may face performance limitations compared to Envoy due to its traditional load balancer architecture.

5. Configuration Flexibility: Envoy offers a highly configurable and extensible configuration system, allowing fine-grained control over load balancing and routing decisions. It supports dynamic configuration updates without service disruption, making it suitable for modern, dynamic infrastructures. Seesaw, while configurable, may require more manual intervention for configuration changes and may not offer the same level of flexibility and dynamism.

6. Community and Adoption: Envoy has gained significant traction and is widely adopted by many organizations, including prominent projects like Istio. It has a large and active open-source community, providing extensive support and contributing to ongoing development. Seesaw, although popular in certain deployments, may not have the same level of widespread adoption and community support.

In summary, Envoy and Seesaw differ in their architectural design, traffic routing capabilities, protocol support, performance, configuration flexibility, and community adoption. Envoy offers more advanced application-level load balancing features, dynamic traffic routing, and extensive protocol support, while Seesaw focuses more on traditional IP-based load balancing at the network layer.