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Aleksei Grishutin - PeerSpot reviewer
Team Lead at a retailer with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Nov 13, 2022
Easy to learn but performance is quite bad
Pros and Cons
  • "The stability is good and passed all tests."
  • "The solution has bad performance issues."

What is our primary use case?

Our company used the solution as a proxy for Tanzu during an initial installation for conducting performance tests. 

What is most valuable?

It is easy to learn proxy operations. 

What needs improvement?

The solution has bad performance issues. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I used the solution for six months. 

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HAProxy
June 2026
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What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability is good and passed all tests. 

How are customer service and support?

I did not need technical support. 

How was the initial setup?

The solution is easy to install and configure in terms of the load balancer. Other tools might take eight days to install, but the solution only takes three or four days.

What about the implementation team?

We installed the solution in-house using available documentation. 

Maintenance can be completed by one network administrator. Sometimes it is not easy to diagnose issues. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The solution is open source so is free. 

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We did not evaluate other options before the solution. We were not happy with the solution's performance so we switched to Load Balancing Analytics. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Nasir Otis - PeerSpot reviewer
Network & Cloud Architect at Koala Compute Inc.
Real User
Jul 3, 2022
Free, potentially good return on investment, for low balancer environment
Pros and Cons
  • "HAProxy potentially has a good return on investment."
  • "I would like to see better search handling, and a user interface, with a complete functional graphical unit."

What is our primary use case?

I use HAProxy for individuals who can not buy low balancers. I built NFV in a box and send individuals a pathway into an HAProxy VM.

What needs improvement?

I would like to see better search handling, and a user interface, with a complete functional graphical unit.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using HAProxy for the past four to five months.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I do not have it in a full production environment to have those statistics. What I am currently using is stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I do not see enough traffic to make an honest critique of the stability.

How was the initial setup?

I have not currently used technical support.

What was our ROI?

HAProxy potentially has a good return on investment.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The setup was not difficult it usually takes a day to complete for a VPC.
When it comes to pricing HAProxy is free.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

I did look at NGINX.

What other advice do I have?

I would rate HAProxy an eight out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
HAProxy
June 2026
Learn what your peers think about HAProxy. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: June 2026.
900,644 professionals have used our research since 2012.
reviewer1206384 - PeerSpot reviewer
CTO & Founder at a financial services firm with 11-50 employees
Real User
Feb 16, 2022
A good solution with a good user interface but no longer fits our needs
Pros and Cons
  • "We don't have a problem with the user interface. it's good."
  • "Overall, it's a good solution."
  • "We've changed solutions as it doesn't fit with our current needs."

What is our primary use case?

We use it in a model teacher, project, and financial trading system.

What is most valuable?

Overall, it's a good solution.

We don't have a problem with the user interface. It's good.

What needs improvement?

We've changed solutions as it doesn't fit with our current needs. 

For how long have I used the solution?

We have used the solution for a while, however, we are currently moving away from it.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We are currently moving away from it. We changed our orchestrator solution and we move to something else and now use an internal proxy.

What other advice do I have?

We are end-users and customers. We don't have a business relationship with the solution.

I would rate the solution at a seven out of ten.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
reviewer1407621 - PeerSpot reviewer
Network security at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Real User
Aug 30, 2020
Works for application load balancing, but pricing, monitoring, and reports need improvement
Pros and Cons
  • "The feature that I have found the most valuable is that it works for my use case of application load balancing. I'm using it for PeerSense, and it's easy enough for PeerSense."
  • "Pricing, monitoring, and reports can be improved."

What is our primary use case?

We are using it for application load balancing.

What is most valuable?

The feature that I have found the most valuable is that it works for my use case of application load balancing. I'm using it for PeerSense, and it's easy enough for PeerSense.

What needs improvement?

Pricing, monitoring, and reports can be improved. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I have just started using HAProxy. In my organization, they've been using it for a year or two.

How was the initial setup?

It was a little bit straightforward.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

HAProxy is free in the initial offer. However, pricing can be improved.

What other advice do I have?

I would recommend HAProxy because it is free in the initial offer, which would work for low budget enterprises that don't have much to start with. 

I would rate HAProxy a seven out of ten. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
reviewer936006 - PeerSpot reviewer
UNIX System Administrator at a financial services firm with 5,001-10,000 employees
Real User
Jun 4, 2019
A containerized solution for TCP load balancing
Pros and Cons
  • "It solves a problem for me where I can build files, not based on the health of the check, but rather the speed of the check."
  • "Once the container is set up, the time it takes to deploy is typically under a minute, which gives me a full-blown solution with all the plugins and images that I am planning on using."
  • "The logging functionality could use improvement, as it is a little cryptic."

What is our primary use case?

Our primary use for this solution is to mount service for Redis.

How has it helped my organization?

It made something possible where I do load balancing on a container, without having to configure it at the firewall.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature is the TCP load balancing. It solves a problem for me where I can build files, not based on the health of the check, but rather the speed of the check. I found that functionality to be quite useful.

What needs improvement?

The logging functionality could use improvement, as it is a little cryptic. Additional logging functionality with better documentation would be helpful.

For how long have I used the solution?

Six months.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I'm quite happy with the frequency in which new versions and updates come out. Each release either adds some functionality or fixes some bugs, from what I've seen. I've upgraded the HAProxy probably ten times now, and have never had an issue.

How are customer service and technical support?

I have never had to use the solution's technical support.

How was the initial setup?

I found that the setup was pretty straightforward, although I had read a book on HAProxy before I started the project. I had given it some thought in terms of what it was that I wanted to do. The book that I read was good, and it was easy for me to install the product.

Only one person is required for deployment and maintenance.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

We are not paying for HAProxy support. We're using the free version, compiling it in a container, and using it. The only cost is for the image manager, who is responsible for uploading the image, and that is trivial. 

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

I chose this solution because I have to operate within a Docker container, and this is the only one that I could get to work.

What other advice do I have?

Once the container is set up, the time it takes to deploy is typically under a minute. That is a full-blown solution with all the plugins and images that I'm planning on using. I'm pretty happy with it.

I would rate this solution a nine out of ten.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
reviewer996537 - PeerSpot reviewer
DevOps-Infrastructure Team Leader at a tech company with 201-500 employees
Real User
Jan 24, 2019
The seamless reload feature was much needed and very helpful
Pros and Cons
  • "With each new release, I find very useful features and love each addition."
  • "I would like to see a two (or more) native cluster support without third parties or DNS manipulations."

What is our primary use case?

HAProxy is used both as an external (customer facing) and internal (between service APIs) solution. We use it for SSL offload, domain and path based ACLs, request header manipulations, and much more.

How has it helped my organization?

Layer 7 health checks improved stability. Logs and metrics are very rich and easy to export which makes it easier for us to pinpoint once something is not working as we expect.

What is most valuable?

With each new release, I find very useful features and love each addition. Recently, the seamless reload feature was much needed and very helpful.

What needs improvement?

I would like to see a two (or more) native cluster support without third parties or DNS manipulations.

For how long have I used the solution?

More than five years.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Senior Vice President of TechOps at a computer software company with 201-500 employees
Real User
Jun 7, 2018
Performance in load balancing, SSL termination, means more stability for our clients
Pros and Cons
  • "HAProxy enabled better performance at lower costs, which allowed us to provide more stability to our clients."
  • "A better GUI would be nice."

What is our primary use case?

Load balancing and SSL termination.

How has it helped my organization?

HAProxy enabled better performance at lower costs. That enabled us to provide more stability to our clients.

What is most valuable?

Performance.

What needs improvement?

A better GUI would be nice.

For how long have I used the solution?

One to three years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

No issues with stability.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

No issues with scalability.

How are customer service and technical support?

Very professional, helpful.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We used F5 BIG-IP in the past and switchED due to performance issues and costs.

How was the initial setup?

It is mostly straightforward and HAProxy was very helpful, guiding us during the deployment.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

I think that the pricing is very fair, I would definitely recommend buying the Enterprise license.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Citrix Netscaler and Kemp LoadMaster.

What other advice do I have?

HAProxy is a very powerful solution with great performance, but it needs to be evaluated carefully according to the specific environment and requirements.

Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.
PeerSpot user
Deployment Engineer at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees
Consultant
May 3, 2018
Advanced traffic rules, including stick tables and ACLs, allow me to shape traffic
Pros and Cons
  • "I can simplify configurations of many internal services (e.g. Web server configs) by moving some elements (like SSL) to HAProxy. I can also disable additional applications, like Varnish, by moving traffic shaping configurations to HAProxy."
  • "Advanced traffic rules, including stick tables and ACLs, which allow me to shape traffic while it's load balanced."
  • "Performance configuration options with threads, processes, and core stickiness are very valuable."
  • "It is fast, flexible, and rock solid."
  • "There are three main areas to improve: 1) Make remote management more modern by adding API. 2) Propose a general HA ​solution for HAProxy (no I'm using keepalived for this). 3) Thread option should be a bit more stable."

What is our primary use case?

I'm using HAProxy in two use cases. 

The first is as an internal load balancer for OpenStack services, in private cloud solutions. So HAProxy is used in front of Galera (MySQL cluster), Nova API, and also in front of exposed docker services. 

The second use case is as a load balancer for a Web hosting solution. HAProxy is load balancing external traffic.

Configuration of HAProxy includes brute force sandboxing (including stick tables and hardcoded ACL for defined paths), splitting traffic by dynamic and static content to redirect it to the proper back-end, SSL, and HTTP headers management.

How has it helped my organization?

I can simplify configurations of many internal services (e.g. Web server configs) by moving some elements (like SSL) to HAProxy. I can also disable additional applications, like Varnish, by moving traffic shaping configurations to HAProxy.

What is most valuable?

Advanced traffic rules, including stick tables and ACLs, which allow me to shape traffic while it's load balanced.

Performance configuration options with threads, processes, and core stickiness are also very valuable.

What needs improvement?

In my opinion, there are three main areas to improve:

  1. Make remote management more modern by adding API.
  2. Propose a general HA solution for HAProxy (no I'm using keepalived for this).
  3. Thread option should be a bit more stable.

For how long have I used the solution?

One to three years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

No issues with stability.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

No issues with scalability, but multiprocess config for HAProxy is more efficient than multi-thread.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I used NGINX in my Web environment. HAProxy has more traffic shaping options and it's a dedicated VNF load-balancer.

How was the initial setup?

Initial setup was straightforward. The documentation is pretty thorough and up to date, and it is also easy to search.

What other advice do I have?

During the implementation, you have to plan ACLs and back-ends first. That allows you to prepare a cleaner config.

I rate HAProxy a 10 out of 10. It is fast, flexible, and rock solid.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
it_user862527 - PeerSpot reviewer
DevOps Engineer at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees
MSP
May 2, 2018
Provides us with an easy way to handle a lot of containers
Pros and Cons
  • "The ability to handle a sequence of front- and back-ends gives the user the opportunity to send traffic through different services."
  • "HAProxy needs to improve its ability to handle a lot of connections, to be more like NGINX."

How has it helped my organization?

With an OpenShift environment, HAProxy gives us an easy way to handle a lot of containers.

What is most valuable?

The ability to handle a sequence of front- and back-ends gives the user the opportunity to send traffic through different services.

What needs improvement?

HAProxy needs to improve its ability to handle a lot of connections, to be more like NGINX.

For how long have I used the solution?

One to three years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

No issues with stability.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I haven't had any issues with scalability but, as I mentioned above, some reviewers have said that NGINX is able to handle more connections than HAProxy.

How was the initial setup?

It was straightforward. I created an Ansible playbook to install HAProxy. It is simple to install and the configuration files are easy to understand.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

I have always used an open-source version.

What other advice do I have?

Before using it, you need to understand your environment's sizing and check if HAProxy is able to handle the quantity of connections.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Consultor at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Real User
Apr 30, 2018
We were able to centralize connections with multiple carriers in a HA environment
Pros and Cons
  • "We were able to use HAProxy for round robin with our databases, or for a centralized TCP connection in one host."
  • "The configuration should be more friendly, perhaps with a Web interface. For example, I work with the ClusterControl product for Severalnines, and we have a Web interface to deploy the HAProxy load-balancer."
  • "From my point of view, the configuration should be more friendly, perhaps with a Web interface."

What is our primary use case?

In my previous company, we had a lot of connections with carriers and we had this communication centralized with HAProxy. We had a high-availavility environment with HAProxy, and Keepalived too for database connections.

How has it helped my organization?

We were able to use HAProxy for round robin with our databases, or for a centralized TCP connection in one host.

What is most valuable?

Round robin and monitoring.

What needs improvement?

From my point of view, the configuration should be more friendly, perhaps with a Web interface. For example, I work with the ClusterControl product for Severalnines, and we have a Web interface to deploy the HAProxy load-balancer.

For how long have I used the solution?

Three to five years.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Download our free HAProxy Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: June 2026
Buyer's Guide
Download our free HAProxy Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.