Best Load Balancing Software in 2026
Updated
In short: F5 BIG-IP APM is ranked #1 of 26 as of 4 October 2026, ahead of VMware Workstation Pro and AWS Elastic Load Balancing. The best-ranked option with a free plan is VMware Workstation Pro. The lowest first paid tier on this page is Alibaba Cloud Server Load Balancer at $0.01/mo.
Load balancing software helps direct application traffic across backends, with routing and service options that vary across products. Compare Layer 4 and Layer 7 routing, global traffic management, and TLS termination, along with the listed backend limit. Managed-service availability can distinguish deployment approaches; free-plan details and paid-from pricing add cost context. The entries include F5 BIG-IP APM, AWS Elastic Load Balancing, and HAProxy Community Edition, as well as VMware Workstation Pro and MetalLB. Consider which traffic controls and service model fit your infrastructure, then weigh those needs against the listed capabilities and pricing.
26 load balancing software ranked on what their makers publish — plans and prices, free tiers, platforms and the facts on their own pages.
Load Balancing Software, ranked on how quickly a newcomer can get going. 8 of the 25 on this page can be tried for free.
- 1 F5 BIG-IP APM
- Free to practise on: not on record
- Free trial: yes
- Well documented: yes
- Runs where you work: yes
- 2 VMware Workstation ProFree plan
- Free to practise on: yes
- Free trial: not on record
- Well documented: yes
- Runs where you work: not on record
- 3 AWS Elastic Load BalancingFree plan
- Free to practise on: yes
- Free trial: not on record
- Well documented: yes
- Runs where you work: not on record
- 4 Loadbalancer.org Enterprise
- Free to practise on: not on record
- Free trial: yes
- Well documented: yes
- Runs where you work: not on record
- 5 Progress Kemp LoadMaster
- Free to practise on: not on record
- Free trial: yes
- Well documented: yes
- Runs where you work: yes
- 6 HAProxy Community EditionFree plan
- Free to practise on: yes
- Free trial: not on record
- Well documented: yes
- Runs where you work: not on record
- 7 MetalLBFree plan
- Free to practise on: yes
- Free trial: not on record
- Well documented: yes
- Runs where you work: not on record
- 8 A10 Thunder ADC
- Free to practise on: not on record
- Free trial: yes
- Well documented: yes
- Runs where you work: not on record
- 9 OpenELB
- Free to practise on: not on record
- Free trial: not on record
- Well documented: yes
- Runs where you work: not on record
- 10 Radware Alteon
- Free to practise on: not on record
- Free trial: not on record
- Well documented: yes
- Runs where you work: not on record
- 11 Vultr Block StoragePaid from $0.03/mo
- Free to practise on: not on record
- Free trial: not on record
- Well documented: yes
- Runs where you work: yes
- 12 kube-vip
- Free to practise on: not on record
- Free trial: not on record
- Well documented: yes
- Runs where you work: not on record
- 13 PureLB
- Free to practise on: not on record
- Free trial: not on record
- Well documented: yes
- Runs where you work: not on record
- 14 Citrix ADC (now NetScaler)
- Free to practise on: not on record
- Free trial: not on record
- Well documented: yes
- Runs where you work: not on record
- 15 Google Cloud Load Balancing
- Free to practise on: not on record
- Free trial: not on record
- Well documented: yes
- Runs where you work: not on record
- 16 HAProxy Enterprise
- Free to practise on: not on record
- Free trial: not on record
- Well documented: yes
- Runs where you work: not on record
- 17 Hetzner Cloud Volumes
- Free to practise on: not on record
- Free trial: not on record
- Well documented: yes
- Runs where you work: not on record
- 18 Alibaba Cloud Server Load BalancerPaid from $0.01/mo
- Free to practise on: not on record
- Free trial: not on record
- Well documented: yes
- Runs where you work: not on record
- 19 Array APV
- Free to practise on: not on record
- Free trial: not on record
- Well documented: not on record
- Runs where you work: not on record
- 20 DigitalOcean Load BalancersPaid from $12/mo
- Free to practise on: not on record
- Free trial: not on record
- Well documented: yes
- Runs where you work: not on record
- 21 VMware Cloud Foundation Operations
- Free to practise on: not on record
- Free trial: not on record
- Well documented: not on record
- Runs where you work: not on record
- 22 Cloudflare Load BalancingPaid from $5/mo
- Free to practise on: not on record
- Free trial: not on record
- Well documented: yes
- Runs where you work: not on record
- 23 FortiADC
- Free to practise on: not on record
- Free trial: not on record
- Well documented: not on record
- Runs where you work: not on record
- 24 IIS Application Request Routing (ARR)
- Free to practise on: not on record
- Free trial: not on record
- Well documented: not on record
- Runs where you work: not on record
- 25 Linux Virtual Server
- Free to practise on: not on record
- Free trial: not on record
- Well documented: not on record
- Runs where you work: not on record
Compare all 25 in a table
| # | Platform | Score | Free plan | From | Free plan | Paid from | Managed service | Layer 7 routing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | F5 BIG-IP APM | 7.3 | No | — | No | — | No | Yes |
| 2 | VMware Workstation Pro | 6.9 | Free plan | Free | — | — | No | Yes |
| 3 | AWS Elastic Load Balancing | 6.8 | Free plan | Free | No | — | Yes | Yes |
| 4 | Loadbalancer.org Enterprise | 6.8 | No | — | No | 150 /mo | — | Yes |
| 5 | Progress Kemp LoadMaster | 6.8 | No | — | Yes | — | No | Yes |
| 6 | HAProxy Community Edition | 6.6 | Free plan | Free | Yes | — | No | Yes |
| 7 | MetalLB | 6.6 | Free plan | Free | — | — | No | — |
| 8 | A10 Thunder ADC | 6.5 | No | — | No | — | — | Yes |
| 9 | OpenELB | 6.3 | No | — | Yes | — | No | — |
| 10 | Radware Alteon | 6.2 | No | — | — | — | — | Yes |
| 11 | Vultr Block Storage | 6.2 | No | $0.03/mo | No | 10 /mo | Yes | Yes |
| 12 | kube-vip | 6.1 | No | — | — | — | No | No |
| 13 | PureLB | 6.1 | No | — | — | — | No | — |
| 14 | Citrix ADC (now NetScaler) | 6.0 | No | — | No | — | No | Yes |
| 15 | Google Cloud Load Balancing | 6.0 | No | — | — | — | Yes | Yes |
| 16 | HAProxy Enterprise | 6.0 | No | — | No | — | No | Yes |
| 17 | Hetzner Cloud Volumes | 6.0 | No | — | No | — | Yes | Yes |
| 18 | Alibaba Cloud Server Load Balancer | 5.9 | No | $0.01/mo | No | — | Yes | Yes |
| 19 | Array APV | 5.8 | No | — | — | — | — | Yes |
| 20 | DigitalOcean Load Balancers | 5.8 | No | $12/mo | No | 12 /mo | Yes | No |
| 21 | VMware Cloud Foundation Operations | 5.8 | No | — | — | — | No | Yes |
| 22 | Cloudflare Load Balancing | 5.7 | No | $5/mo | No | 5 /mo | Yes | Yes |
| 23 | FortiADC | 5.7 | No | — | — | — | No | Yes |
| 24 | IIS Application Request Routing (ARR) | 5.6 | No | — | Yes | — | No | Yes |
| 25 | Linux Virtual Server | 5.6 | No | — | Yes | — | — | Yes |
Is your platform on this list?
Numbered spots on this list can be sponsored, and a sponsored row is labelled as paid.
Questions about this list
Which load balancing software is ranked first on The Geeks Club?
F5 BIG-IP APM is ranked #1 of 26 with a score of 7.3. VMware Workstation Pro is second and AWS Elastic Load Balancing third.
How many of these have a free plan?
4 of the 25 on this page publish a free plan on their own pricing pages.
Which is the cheapest paid option?
On this page, Alibaba Cloud Server Load Balancer has the lowest first paid tier we found: $0.01/mo.
How is this list ranked?
Ranked on how quickly a newcomer can get going: documentation depth, a free tier or trial, and the platforms it runs on.