Best Load Balancing Software in 2026
Updated
If your applications need traffic distributed across backend systems, load balancing software gives you routing and service-model fields to compare. Compared on Layer 4 and Layer 7 routing, global traffic management, and TLS termination, the entries also list backend limits. Managed-service availability can inform how you plan to operate the balancer; free-plan status and paid-from pricing add cost context. AWS Elastic Load Balancing, F5 BIG-IP APM, and Loadbalancer.org Enterprise are among the options shown, alongside A10 Thunder ADC and Citrix ADC (now NetScaler). Use the listed routing capabilities and limits to assess fit for your infrastructure and traffic-management requirements.
Load Balancing Software, one module each.A lit port is something its maker publishes; 14 of 14 with a known API signal have a public API.
- 01 AWS Elastic Load Balancing API yesFREE yesDOCS 7.3Free
- 02 A10 Thunder ADC API yesDOCS 6.8
- 03 Array APV API yesDOCS 6.8
- 04 F5 BIG-IP APM API yesDOCS 6.8
- 05 Loadbalancer.org Enterprise API yesFREE noDOCS 6.8
- 06 Citrix ADC (now NetScaler) API yesDOCS 6.7
- 07 HAProxy Enterprise API yesDOCS 6.7
- 08 Hetzner Cloud Volumes API yesDOCS 6.7
- 09 Progress Kemp LoadMaster API yesFREE noDOCS 6.7
- 10 Radware Alteon API yesDOCS 6.7
- 11 Vultr Block Storage API yesFREE noDOCS 6.7$0.03/mo
- 12 Google Cloud Load Balancing API yesDOCS 6.6
- 13 Oracle Cloud Infrastructure DNS API yesFREE noDOCS 6.6
- 14 VMware Live Recovery (VLR)VMware by Broadcom API yesDOCS 6.5
- 15 VMware Workstation Pro FREE yesDOCS 5.9Free
- 16 HAProxy Community Edition FREE yesDOCS 5.8Free
- 17 Linux Virtual Server FREE yesDOCS 5.8Free
- 18 MetalLB FREE yesDOCS 5.8Free
- 19 kube-vip DOCS 5.5
- 20 OpenELB DOCS 5.5
- 21 PureLB DOCS 5.5
- 22 Alibaba Cloud Server Load Balancer FREE noDOCS 5.2$0.01/mo
- 23 Azure Load Balancer DOCS 5.1
- 24 Cloudflare Load Balancing FREE noDOCS 5.1$5/mo
- 25 DigitalOcean Load Balancers FREE noDOCS 5.1$12/mo
Compare all 25 in a table
| # | Platform | Score | Free plan | Paid from | Managed service | Layer 7 routing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | AWS Elastic Load Balancing | 7.3 | No | Yes | Yes | |
| 2 | A10 Thunder ADC | 6.8 | No | Yes | ||
| 3 | Array APV | 6.8 | Yes | |||
| 4 | F5 BIG-IP APM | 6.8 | No | No | Yes | |
| 5 | Loadbalancer.org Enterprise | 6.8 | No | 150 /mo | Yes | |
| 6 | Citrix ADC (now NetScaler) | 6.7 | No | No | Yes | |
| 7 | HAProxy Enterprise | 6.7 | No | No | Yes | |
| 8 | Hetzner Cloud Volumes | 6.7 | No | Yes | Yes | |
| 9 | Progress Kemp LoadMaster | 6.7 | Yes | No | Yes | |
| 10 | Radware Alteon | 6.7 | Yes | |||
| 11 | Vultr Block Storage | 6.7 | No | 10 /mo | Yes | Yes |
| 12 | Google Cloud Load Balancing | 6.6 | Yes | Yes | ||
| 13 | Oracle Cloud Infrastructure DNS | 6.6 | No | |||
| 14 | VMware Live Recovery (VLR) | 6.5 | No | Yes | ||
| 15 | VMware Workstation Pro | 5.9 | No | Yes | ||
| 16 | HAProxy Community Edition | 5.8 | Yes | No | Yes | |
| 17 | Linux Virtual Server | 5.8 | Yes | Yes | ||
| 18 | MetalLB | 5.8 | No | |||
| 19 | kube-vip | 5.5 | No | No | ||
| 20 | OpenELB | 5.5 | Yes | No | ||
| 21 | PureLB | 5.5 | No | |||
| 22 | Alibaba Cloud Server Load Balancer | 5.2 | No | Yes | Yes | |
| 23 | Azure Load Balancer | 5.1 | No | Yes | No | |
| 24 | Cloudflare Load Balancing | 5.1 | No | 5 /mo | Yes | Yes |
| 25 | DigitalOcean Load Balancers | 5.1 | No | 12 /mo | Yes | No |
Is your platform on this list?
Numbered spots on this list can be sponsored, and a sponsored row is labelled as paid.