
AWS App Mesh
Managed service mesh that simplifies monitoring and controlling inter-service communication in microservices
Discover top open-source software, updated regularly with real-world adoption signals.

Lightweight, sidecar-free service mesh for Kubernetes
Traefik Mesh provides a simple, full‑featured service mesh that runs without sidecars, using node‑level proxies and supports SMI, making integration into existing Kubernetes clusters painless.

Traefik Mesh is a container‑native service mesh designed for Kubernetes clusters. It runs a single mesh controller pod and deploys lightweight proxy endpoints on each node, eliminating the need for sidecar containers. This non‑invasive approach keeps existing workloads untouched until you explicitly opt‑in services, simplifying migration and reducing resource consumption.
The mesh fully implements the Service Mesh Interface (SMI) specification, allowing you to manage traffic routing, policies, and telemetry through standard SMI resources or simple service annotations. Installation is a single Helm v3 command, and the mesh works with CoreDNS for service discovery. Because routing is handled at the node level, you gain consistent performance without modifying individual pod specifications.
Deploy with Helm, then annotate the services you want to include or create SMI objects. The controller automatically configures the node proxies, providing transparent traffic management across the cluster. This makes Traefik Mesh suitable for teams that want a straightforward, low‑overhead mesh solution that can be introduced gradually.
When teams consider Traefik Mesh, these hosted platforms usually appear on the same shortlist.

Managed service mesh that simplifies monitoring and controlling inter-service communication in microservices

Fully managed service mesh on Google Cloud for traffic management and observability

Enterprise service mesh management platform extending Istio across multi-cloud environments
Looking for a hosted option? These are the services engineering teams benchmark against before choosing open source.
Gradual mesh adoption
Introduce mesh capabilities service‑by‑service without affecting existing workloads.
Multi‑team service isolation
Apply SMI policies to isolate traffic between teams while sharing the same cluster.
SMI‑based traffic routing
Define routing rules using standard SMI resources for blue‑green or canary deployments.
Simplified traffic management
Leverage node proxies for consistent load balancing and retries without sidecar complexity.
Traefik Mesh supports Kubernetes 1.11 and newer.
It runs lightweight proxy endpoints on each node, managed by a central controller, instead of injecting containers into pods.
Add the appropriate annotation to the service object or create an SMI resource referencing the service.
It integrates with standard SMI telemetry extensions, allowing you to plug in compatible monitoring tools.
Current installation instructions are Helm v3‑only; alternative methods are not documented.
Project at a glance
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