---
title: Istio on GKE Reviews
meta_title: 'Istio on GKE Reviews 2026: Details, Pricing, & Features | G2'
meta_description: Filter reviews by the users' company size, role or industry to find
  out how Istio on GKE works for a business like yours.
aggregate_rating:
  rating_value: 4.5
  review_count: 3
  scale: '5'
date_modified: '2025-11-06'
parent_category:
  name: Cloud Security
  url: https://www.g2.com/categories/cloud-security
---

# Istio on GKE Reviews
**Vendor:** Google  
**Category:** [Service Mesh Tools](https://www.g2.com/categories/service-mesh-tools)  
**Average Rating:** 4.5/5.0  
**Total Reviews:** 3
## About Istio on GKE
Istio is an open service mesh that provides a uniform way to connect, manage, and secure microservices. It supports managing traffic flows between services, enforcing access policies, and aggregating telemetry data, all without requiring changes to the microservice code.




## Istio on GKE Reviews
  ### 1. Recommendation for GKE

**Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** RAVI B. | Software Engineer, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** March 18, 2024

**What do you like best about Istio on GKE?**

Traffic Management 
Security 
Integration with GCP services

**What do you dislike about Istio on GKE?**

Bit complex to understand else everything is fine.

**What problems is Istio on GKE solving and how is that benefiting you?**

Easy to deploy containerised application and network management.

  ### 2. Best Monitoring Tool in GKE

**Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Simran R. | Cloud Engineer, Information Technology and Services, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** May 22, 2023

**What do you like best about Istio on GKE?**

The installation of Istio on GKE is very easy as it can be done with a click while creating the cluster. Best metrics are provided with the help of Istio so that we can monitor every way possible. It monitors the microservices, so if there is any issue within the cluster, it is easy to call it out.

**What do you dislike about Istio on GKE?**

Not exactly a dislike, but as it comes to monitoring, along with the tool manual work is also needed. We can set up alerts but for forecasting, configurations, and regular check, we need human interaction.

**What problems is Istio on GKE solving and how is that benefiting you?**

With Istio, it became easy to monitor microservices, compliance in large clusters, and its implementation with other services. We used it for fintech customers who wanted detailed insights and metrics for their workloads and services. Another benefit is it is secure.

  ### 3. Best way to monitor your K8s cluster

**Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Verified User in Information Technology and Services | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** June 19, 2022

**What do you like best about Istio on GKE?**

With GKE installation was easy. You can install in a click while creating the K8s cluster

**What do you dislike about Istio on GKE?**

Really can't add anything. Managing configuration is difficult. if you have multiple configuration on multiple system interactin with each other then it is very difficult to manage config.
how do you decide how many git repo you want.?
how do you move your config from staging to prod?
how to manage the variables intra system.

There is lots of human interaction in large clusters.

**What problems is Istio on GKE solving and how is that benefiting you?**

It made managing metrics easy. It scales to any K8s cluster.
YOu are basically handling networking as in code. you can decide where your request will go, with what header it will go, with what domain name it will go. and all that?


## Istio on GKE Discussions
  - [What is Istio on GKE used for?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/what-is-istio-on-gke-used-for)

- [View Istio on GKE pricing details and edition comparison](https://www.g2.com/products/istio-on-gke/reviews?section=pricing&secure%5Bexpires_at%5D=2026-07-07+00%3A14%3A53+-0500&secure%5Bsession_id%5D=5c0971ce-00ad-4907-9849-b3ba0778178f&secure%5Btoken%5D=6eddb956de3af9169ccf603500fe37d62145deee49db1fa11e7a845c43bd03d5&format=llm_user)

## Istio on GKE Features
**Functionality**
- Supported Protocols
- Container Orchestration
- Extensibility
- Monitoring

**Cloud Visibility**
- Data Discovery
- Cloud Registry
- Cloud Gap Analytics

**Networking**
- Networking
- Load Balancing
- Traffic Filtering
- Service Discovery

**Security**
- Data Security
- Data loss Prevention
- Security Auditing

**Protection**
- Policy Management
- Secure Communications

**Identity**
- SSO
- Governance
- User Analytics

## Top Istio on GKE Alternatives
  - [Kong Konnect](https://www.g2.com/products/kong-inc-kong-konnect/reviews) - 4.4/5.0 (320 reviews)
  - [HashiCorp Consul](https://www.g2.com/products/hashicorp-consul/reviews) - 4.3/5.0 (20 reviews)
  - [Istio](https://www.g2.com/products/istio/reviews) - 4.2/5.0 (18 reviews)