HAProxy

By HAProxy

4.7 out of 5 stars

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HAProxy Reviews & Product Details

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HAProxy

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HAProxy Reviews (826)

Reviews

HAProxy Reviews (826)

4.7
826 reviews

Review Summary

Generated using AI from real user reviews
Users consistently praise HAProxy for its high performance and reliability, making it a trusted choice for managing heavy traffic loads. Many appreciate its straightforward setup and robust features, which enhance traffic control and security. However, the configuration syntax is often noted as complex, presenting a challenge for beginners.

Pros & Cons

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Scott B.
SB
"Effortless Load Balancing with HAProxy"
What do you like best about HAProxy?

I appreciate HAProxy for its reliable load balancing capabilities, which I've extensively utilized for over 12 years in production and numerous cloud environments. Its nature as a free, open-source solution adds to its appeal, particularly because it maintains low latency in complex environments. I find it incredibly easy to configure, resulting in a straightforward setup process, and am impressed by its robust capabilities that ensure high performance without frequent errors. This makes HAProxy highly dependable for balancing applications effectively. Personally, I've used it alongside tools like Keepalived, and although I don't use it exclusively, it remains a top choice for its seamless operational functionality. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about HAProxy?

I can’t think of anything Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Response from Nick Ramirez of HAProxy

Thank you for writing this review of HAProxy!

Verified User in Computer Networking
AC
Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)
"Unmatched Power and Precision for Professionals"
What do you like best about HAProxy?

Its performance is nothing short of legendary; it handles staggering amounts of traffic with such negligible resource usage it feels like magic. But its true genius lies in its configuration. It’s a work of art—a pure, text-based DSL that gives you god-like control over every single packet. We wield its ACLs and stick tables like a surgeon’s scalpel to dissect and annihilate threats in real-time. It’s not just a tool; it’s a masterpiece of engineering that provides absolute, rock-solid stability. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about HAProxy?

Honestly, framing anything about HAProxy as "negative" is to fundamentally misunderstand its purpose. People mention the "steep learning curve" or its reliance on the command line as if those are flaws. That's not a flaw; that's a feature. It's a deliberate design choice that filters out the dabblers. HAProxy doesn't hold your hand with a flashy GUI because it's a professional-grade weapon, not a toy. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Response from Nick Ramirez of HAProxy

Wow! Thank you for such praise of HAProxy! We appreciate you!

PG
Analyst
Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)
"Reliable and Efficient, but Lacks Modern Flexibility"
What do you like best about HAProxy?

What I value most in HAProxy is its predictability and low operational overhead. It performs its core task of traffic management with high efficiency and minimal resource consumption, which is a key requirement for our infrastructure. Its text-based configuration, while austere, allows for precise, repeatable deployments and integrates cleanly into our automation and version control workflows. It’s a stable component that does exactly what it's expected to do without introducing unnecessary complexity. In essence, it functions as a reliable utility that doesn't require constant attention. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about HAProxy?

Its strength in text-based configuration is also its primary rigidity. Debugging complex rules or troubleshooting routing issues can become inefficient and opaque, lacking the visualization tools or dynamic management offered by more modern solutions. Furthermore, any functionality beyond core load balancing, such as advanced WAF integration, often requires add-on solutions or enterprise versions, which complicates the architecture. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Response from Nick Ramirez of HAProxy

Thanks for reviewing HAProxy. As you said, many of the challenges are eased by the enterprise version, while the free, community version offers a robust load balancing solution.

BL
System administrator
Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)
"HAProxy: Reliable, High-Performance Load Balancing with a Steep Learning Curve"
What do you like best about HAProxy?

What I like best about HAProxy is its exceptional reliability and outstanding performance. It has been the cornerstone of our infrastructure, effortlessly handling immense traffic loads with remarkably low latency. The configuration is both straightforward and incredibly flexible, allowing us to implement complex traffic routing and load balancing rules with ease. This simplicity, combined with its powerful feature set, saves us a significant amount of time. We have complete confidence in HAProxy's stability; it consistently ensures high availability for our critical applications. The ability to scale our services without compromising speed or reliability is invaluable. It’s a robust, efficient, and well-documented solution that has proven to be indispensable for our operations. Ultimately, it provides peace of mind, which is the highest praise I can give. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about HAProxy?

While its power is undeniable, the learning curve for its more advanced features can be somewhat steep for newcomers. Furthermore, its primary reliance on command-line configuration, while efficient, might present an initial hurdle for teams more accustomed to graphical user interfaces for management. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Response from Nick Ramirez of HAProxy

Thank you for giving us feedback about HAProxy!

Mazhar F.
MF
DevOps Client Operations Engineer
Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)
"Precise ACL Routing and Predictable Performance Under Load"
What do you like best about HAProxy?

The best about HAProxy is the precise ACL-based routing and how predictable it behaves under load—debugging is straightforward and rarely feels like guesswork. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about HAProxy?

Nothing like that which is feel like a con. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Response from Nick Ramirez of HAProxy

Great to hear!

Verified User in Hospital & Health Care
UH
Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)
"HAProxy from an UserPerspective"
What do you like best about HAProxy?

HAProxy integrates seamlessly into OpenShift as the default ingress controller. The performance under high load is excellent, and the configuration via annotations is straightforward for routing and TLS termination. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about HAProxy?

Advanced custom configurations in OpenShift require workarounds via ConfigMap patches, which can be tricky. Better native support for fine-grained timeout and header manipulation without leaving the OpenShift abstraction layer would be helpful. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Response from Nick Ramirez of HAProxy

Thanks for sharing this specific feedback!

Žan O.
ŽO
DevOps Engineer
Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)
"Simple and Straightforward Experience"
What do you like best about HAProxy?

What I like most about HAProxy’s simplicity is how it keeps powerful load balancing and routing features easy to understand and configure, without unnecessary complexity. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about HAProxy?

What I dislike most about HAProxy’s whitespace sensitivity is that small formatting mistakes can easily break the config or cause subtle issues, making it less forgiving than it looks. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Response from Nick Ramirez of HAProxy

The whitespace thing is because of YAML. Thanks for letting us know.

Manuel B.
MB
SysAdmin
Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)
"Absolutely fantastic"
What do you like best about HAProxy?

What I like most about HAproxy is the flexibility its configuration offers and the degree of customization and sophistication that can be achieved using ACLs. We have faced different use cases that required very specific and out-of-the-ordinary configurations, and we have always been able to achieve the goal using some of the countless functions it provides. The manual is very comprehensive, and by reading it for a while, you can find the solution to all your needs. As for its robustness, the load it can handle without any issues is incredible. In case of need, the support is very good, fast, and effective. We use it daily and are delighted with it. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about HAProxy?

To make a complaint, I would like there to be more updated versions in the official repositories of the most used distributions. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Response from Nick Ramirez of HAProxy

Thank you for this feedback about HAProxy! We may not have the power to force distributions to have more updated packages, but we're working on a way to provide those packages directly.

MO
"Reliable Load Balancing with Easy Configuration"
What do you like best about HAProxy?

I use HAProxy for load balancing and reverse proxy, and it helps distribute traffic efficiently across multiple servers. I appreciate its reliable performance and high availability. I like the speed and easy configuration, which lets me handle high traffic with low latency, scaling and managing it effortlessly. The basic setup is straightforward. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about HAProxy?

In complex use cases it's not easy to configure HAProxy. The basic setup was straightforward, but moving to TLS made it more complex to manage. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Response from Nick Ramirez of HAProxy

HAProxy Fusion simplifies management of load balancer clusters. Have you checked it out yet?

Verified User in Government Administration
AG
Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)
"Great loadbalancer and WAF"
What do you like best about HAProxy?

It's a REALLY fast load balancer with almost limitless functionality. It's very easy to use with Fusion, which is getting more features every now and then, whilst maintaining stability. We also do really like the request explorer integrated in to Fusion. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about HAProxy?

It has not always been as easy for us to implement it in our environment, but we solved this with great help of the HAProxy team and some custom scripts provided by them. Don't forget to document this, so you remember how everything is implemented and working together. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Response from Nick Ramirez of HAProxy

It's good to here that you got the help you needed. Thank you for leaving a review!

Questions about HAProxy? Ask real users or explore answers from the community

Get practical answers, real workflows, and honest pros and cons from the G2 community or share your insights.

Sumit Kumar K.
SK
Sumit Kumar Katiyar ☸
Last activity about 3 years ago

how can implement cors and session stickyness in ingress(haproxy)

GU
Guest User
Last activity over 2 years ago

What is HAProxy and why it is used?

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HAProxy Features
Traffic Control
Logs/Documentation
User Interface Design
Setup Simplicity
Platform Integration
Global Load Balancing
Dynamic Resource Allocation
Server Health Monitoring
SSL/TLS Termination
Application Firewall Integration
DDoS Mitigation
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HAProxy