Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users

HAProxy vs Kemp LoadMaster vs LoadBalancer Enterprise comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
7.9
HAProxy offers cost-effective traffic management, enhanced efficiency, and high ROI through streamlined processes and reduced manual intervention.
Sentiment score
7.4
Kemp LoadMaster is a cost-effective solution that enhances efficiency, security, and offers significant returns quickly in various industries.
Sentiment score
5.7
LoadBalancer Enterprise enhances network reliability and security, crucial for VoIP, while being cost-effective and vital for continuous operations.
Improved uptime stands out, with our uptime statistics rising from around 98% to consistently above 99.900, meaning reduced SLA penalties while keeping our clients happier.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.9
HAProxy's customer service is swift and effective, but open-source support lacks the comprehensiveness of enterprise alternatives.
Sentiment score
8.8
Kemp LoadMaster support is highly rated for its knowledgeable, efficient team offering quick issue resolution and comprehensive online resources.
Sentiment score
8.0
Loadbalancer Enterprise's support is praised for expertise and responsiveness, despite minor delays; users highly value their reliability.
I would rate community support as strong, but if guaranteed SLAs or direct assistance are required, then enterprise support would be the go-to option.
We have not received technical support from Kemp LoadMaster without a license.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.8
HAProxy is praised for its scalability, efficiency, and flexibility, handling thousands of connections and supporting mid-sized deployments seamlessly.
Sentiment score
8.2
Kemp LoadMaster is highly scalable, supporting smooth upgrades and adaptable licensing for both small and large enterprises.
Sentiment score
7.8
LoadBalancer Enterprise excels in scalability, handling high loads smoothly, though some face hardware and budget constraints.
HAProxy's scalability is excellent; as our traffic expands, it handles load increases effortlessly.
Kemp LoadMaster is a scalable solution.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.1
HAProxy is highly stable, reliably managing heavy traffic with minimal downtime, efficient support, and consistent functionality improvements.
Sentiment score
8.7
Kemp LoadMaster is praised for its stability, reliability, high availability, and effective server load management with minimal downtime.
Sentiment score
7.9
LoadBalancer Enterprise is stable and reliable, with minimal issues and high stability ratings, suitable for production environments.
This reliability serves as a key reason for our choice, providing us with confidence even when faced with heavy traffic.
With the license purchase afterwards, if it expires, it begins dropping the HTTP traffic, also the DNS traffic.
 

Room For Improvement

HAProxy needs better GUI, dynamic configuration, user-friendly logging, REST API, cloud integration, security, and community features.
Kemp LoadMaster needs UI, security, documentation enhancements, improved monitoring, automation, analytics, and better cloud integration.
LoadBalancer Enterprise needs simplified configuration, enhanced scalability, API access, improved security, lower pricing, and better Metaswitch integration.
The configuration syntax is powerful yet can become overwhelming for newcomers; a more beginner-friendly interface or a native GUI without relying on third-party tools would ease the onboarding process.
After that, they said if it was good, we could purchase the license, and while we found it very good, the license cost was too high.
 

Setup Cost

HAProxy is cost-effective, praised for simple licensing, robust features, and valued by enterprises despite requiring expertise for setup.
Kemp LoadMaster offers flexible, cost-effective licensing and setup with positive user feedback and a 30-day free trial.
Enterprise users find LoadBalancer Enterprise offers good value, with negotiable costs, affordable upgrades, and competitive pricing options.
We haven't opted for HAProxy Enterprise yet, so there are no licensing complexities.
 

Valuable Features

HAProxy is praised for its excellent load balancing, reliability, customization, scalability, advanced traffic rules, and open-source integration.
Kemp LoadMaster offers ease of use, security features, Azure integration, and cost-effective load balancing for Microsoft applications.
LoadBalancer Enterprise provides reliable, user-friendly load balancing with scalability and efficiency, ensuring consistent service with low latency and essential integrations.
By moving all SSL termination to the load balancer, I now manage certificates in a single place, and I can also utilize Let's Encrypt with HAProxy's built-in ACME support, making renewal automatic.
We had some issues in patching management, so we deployed this product for virtual patching, the IPS rule, and it gives us very good results because we have very critical servers.
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) category, the mindshare of HAProxy is 11.1%, down from 12.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Kemp LoadMaster is 7.1%, down from 7.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of LoadBalancer Enterprise is 4.3%, up from 3.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
HAProxy11.1%
Kemp LoadMaster7.1%
LoadBalancer Enterprise4.3%
Other77.5%
Application Delivery Controllers (ADC)
 

Featured Reviews

Mehdi El Filahi - PeerSpot reviewer
Useful for for small and quick load-balancing tasks
What I like best about the product is its simplicity and speed. When you need to set up a load balancer quickly, HAProxy offers options like sticky sessions and round-robin. It's also fast to configure, including adding SSL for security. While it may have fewer options than other solutions like F5, HAProxy gets the job done for basic load-balancing tasks. The reliability features of HAProxy were particularly useful in a scenario where I needed to test load balancing between two Tomcats. Since these domains were inaccessible, I set up a third Docker with HAProxy, which had access to the Tomcat domains. I then configured HAProxy to handle the load balancing. This setup allowed the client to interact with HAProxy. The solution's integration with other elements is easy.
IshtiaqKhalil - PeerSpot reviewer
Displays flexible, user-friendly interface with minor licensing challenges
The product could be improved with a more intuitive interface for complex configurations and more advanced analytics. Additionally, enhanced security features, like a more robust Web Application Firewall, and stronger APIs for better automation would be beneficial. Overall, the main areas for improvement are in strengthening the advanced features to better meet the demands of large-scale enterprise environments. key features for the next release should focus on three areas. First, an enhanced, next-generation security suite with a more powerful Web Application Firewall (WAF) and integrated bot protection. Second, more advanced and customizable analytics dashboards to provide deeper insights into application performance. Finally, greater support for modern, cloud-native environments, including better APIs for automation and seamless hybrid-cloud traffic management
Roger Seelaender - PeerSpot reviewer
Great WAF - low-maintenance solution that performs as advertised
The solution can be improved with the development of a SIP engine because it is difficult to manage SBCs. All SBCs are really tough to write rules for. If we could put this in front of an SBC to have the right rules to possibly block the traffic, that would be very helpful. The solution can also improve the relationship between Loadbalancer.org and Metaswitch, or now, Microsoft because Metaswitch was purchased by Microsoft. They both position themselves as certified but don't always talk to each other. I wish there would be closer integration between the solution and the vendors when either release new upgrades to their product line. Often we find issues on either end post upgrades.
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) solutions are best for your needs.
871,358 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
18%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Computer Software Company
14%
Government
8%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Computer Software Company
18%
Financial Services Firm
12%
University
7%
Government
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business15
Midsize Enterprise13
Large Enterprise15
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business24
Midsize Enterprise13
Large Enterprise16
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business9
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise12
 

Questions from the Community

Do you recommend HAProxy?
I do recommend HAProxy for more simple applications or for companies with a low budget, since HAProxy is a free, open...
What do you like most about HAProxy?
The solution is effective in managing our traffic.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for HAProxy?
Our experience with pricing, setup costs, and licensing has been quite straightforward. Since we use the open-source ...
What do you like most about Kemp LoadMaster?
Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten...I rate the technical support a ten out of ten...The initial ...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Kemp LoadMaster?
My primary advice is to carefully analyze your total cost of ownership (TCO) rather than just the initial purchase pr...
What needs improvement with Kemp LoadMaster?
The product could be improved with a more intuitive interface for complex configurations and more advanced analytics....
Do you recommend Loadbalancer.org?
Since Loadbalancer.org is an open-source solution, I would recommend this solution for smaller businesses that don’t ...
What do you like most about Loadbalancer.org?
Existing customers are trying to migrate from the physical F5 load balancer to the AVI load balancer because it is sc...
 

Also Known As

HAProxy Community Edition, HAProxy Enterprise Edition, HAPEE
LoadMaster Load Balancer
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Booking.com, GitHub, Reddit, StackOverflow, Tumblr, Vimeo, Yelp
Kent County Council, KEMP, SMA Solar Technology AG, RT€ Player , Victrix (Quebec, Canada), Texas A&M, Macmillan Cancer Support, Cisco, Austin Bank
Vodafone, NASA, Mercedes, NBC, Siemens, AT&T, Barclays, Zurich, Penn State University, Fiserv, Canon, Toyota, University of Cambridge, US Army, US Navy, Ocean Spray, ASOS, Pfizer, BBC, Bacardi, Monsoon, River Island, U.S Air Force, King's College London, NHS, Ricoh, Philips, Santander, TATA Communications, Ericcson, Ross Video, Evertz, TalkTalk TV, Giacom, Rapid Host.
Find out what your peers are saying about NetScaler, F5, Microsoft and others in Application Delivery Controllers (ADC). Updated: September 2025.
871,358 professionals have used our research since 2012.