We use it as a load balancer for our application servers, including Bonita, VPMN, our NAS reporting tools, and Telus solutions. We have two or four applications in the back end and use HAProxy as a load balancer.
Développeur applications at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
Stable solution even if one of the nodes goes down
Pros and Cons
- "We use it as a load balancer for our application servers."
- "There is room for improvement in the pricing model. It could be cheaper."
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
Currently, we're just using it as a load balancer. We haven't explored all the functionality yet, but we find it has too much to offer.
What needs improvement?
There is room for improvement in the pricing model. It could be cheaper.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using HAProxy for a month. We are using the latest version.
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What do I think about the stability of the solution?
We were using a big program, which caused issues when one of the servers went down. However, with the use of HAProxy, even if one of the nodes goes down, the request and reply can still be received, making it more stable.
It is a stable solution.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is scalable. We haven't experienced any major issues with scalability. We didn't need to apply any specific scheduling to the system. We have up to 1000 users in our company.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We were using Snap before. I don't know if you're familiar with it. It reached its end of life last month, in March. So we made some comparisons to find a replacement for Snap, and my team and I chose to use HAProxy. We just started using it. We paid the enterprise fee towards the end of last year.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is fine. We just need to configure the solution. One good technical person is enough for the deployment.
What about the implementation team?
For the deployment process, we need to install Linux and follow the instructions provided on the site. It is deployed in the production. We did the collection online with the installation and checked out the bulk of the management before logging in and starting the application deployment. One of our team members took care of the installation.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
There is a license model in place. It is accessible.
What other advice do I have?
I would definitely recommend using the solution. Overall, I would rate the solution a nine 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.
UCaaS Engineering Manager at a comms service provider with 201-500 employees
A stable, scalable solution included with the Loadbalancer.org WAF solution
Pros and Cons
- "The features I find valuable in this solution are session control which automatically disconnects users that forget to log off, and the ability to write rules to either allow or block certain file requests."
- "The solution can be improved by controlling TCP behavior better and mandating to clients what the expected outcome must be in order to avoid receiving contestant timeout logs."
What is our primary use case?
The primary use case of this solution is to control the IP addresses accessing our devices and and blocking invalid requests to our back end servers.
How has it helped my organization?
It is much more flexible than a firewall since it gives you great logging and then control of what is let through to the WAF.
What is most valuable?
The ability to block constant requests for files that are not applicable to our VoIP deployment. We used to have a lot of 404s from our backend. Now they are blocked right up front.
What needs improvement?
The solution can be improved by controlling TCP behavior better rather than just reporting them in the logs. Automatic blocking of clients that don't properly close their TCP session (CH/CD) would be good.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using the solution for three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution is easily scalable. If I were to run out of CPU space, or memory space, it would be very easy to just take my rules and virtualize them into VMware, and get a much more powerful solution. The other choice is to get another pair of servers and use the load-balancing functionality that comes with them to go between the two server environments.
How are customer service and support?
The tech support is good however, there are sometimes delays in resolving issues because when there is a shift change there doesn't seem to be any communication between the support staff and we are constantly having to repeat our issues to the next person. The vendor follows the support around the globe approach that can lead to a lot of repetition and sometimes miscommunication.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is straightforward and took about two weeks to implement.
What about the implementation team?
The implementation was completed in-house with the help of vendor technical support.
What was our ROI?
The solution helps with customer retention each year.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The licensing fee for the entire WAF solution is very affordable with Loadbalancer.org. There are no separate charges for HAProxy and WAF.
What other advice do I have?
I give the solution an eight out of ten.
We're a very small company of 400 employees, so there are only two of us in VoIP engineering who maintain all the equipment, which includes phones, Metaswitch, and LoadBalancer.org. The solution is maintained by one person taking only one hour a day to monitor the logs and apply new rules.
The solution is a layer seven device that allows your traffic to flow through. So if you are running any type of web interface for your customers, put a WAF in front of it that will allow you to limit the traffic that goes to the backend.
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.
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January 2026
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Manager - IT Infrastructure and Network at a manufacturing company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Beneficial open source functionality, scalable, but support documentation lacking
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable feature of HAProxy is that its open source."
- "HAProxy could improve by making the dashboards easier to use, and better reports and administration tickets."
What is our primary use case?
We are using HAProxy for load balancing.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable feature of HAProxy is that its open source.
What needs improvement?
HAProxy could improve by making the dashboards easier to use, and better reports and administration tickets.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using HAProxy for approximately eight years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
HAProxy is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability of HAProxy is good.
We have approximately 10 servers utilizing this solution.
Our organization is an enterprise, but we are using HAProxy for the basic requirements and functions. We are using the basic requirements for load balancing. I would recommend this solution for small businesses. For large businesses, I would recommend Citrix and F5.
How are customer service and support?
If we have any issues generally we open a ticket through the internet, and we receive a solution. They have been responsive.
The support could improve by providing better documentation. If they had an online knowledge base it would be helpful.
I rate the support from HAProxy a three out of five.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We used F5 in 2018 and it was a better solution than HAProxy, but it was expensive. In order to have the best features, you need to pay for a better solution, HAProxy is free.
How was the initial setup?
The deployment and configuration of HAProxy are not easy if we compare it with other solutions, such as F5. The full implementation took us one to two months to complete.
I rate the initial setup of HAProxy a three out of five.
What about the implementation team?
We did the implementation of HAProxy in-house.
We have one or two people who maintain HAProxy. They do the administration, testing, and all other maintenance. We did not require any third parties. The solution requires maintenance approximately three times annually. However, we are not using the solution extensively.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
HAProxy is a free open-source solution.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
The main difference between HAProxy and other solutions on the market is that it is open source. Otherwise, functional-wise, it's the same.
What other advice do I have?
I rate HAProxy a seven out of ten.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Platform Architect at a manufacturing company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Product with many valuable features; load balancing gives peace of mind
Pros and Cons
- "Having the right load balancing solution – which is what HAProxy is – and protection in place gives organizations peace of mind."
- "HAProxy could do with some good combination integrations."
What is our primary use case?
We primarily use HAProxy for the load balancer.
How has it helped my organization?
Having the right load balancing solution – which is what HAProxy is – and protection in place gives organizations peace of mind.
What is most valuable?
HAProxy has a lot of features, so what's most valuable depends on what we are loading. The forwarding proxy is a valuable feature. HAProxy is a valuable product.
What needs improvement?
HAProxy could do with some good combination integrations.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using HAProxy for about 15 years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
HAProxy is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
HAProxy is scalable. We have some 2,500 end users using HAProxy. They are mostly developers.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We did not use any other solution before we deployed HAProxy.
How was the initial setup?
The initial HAProxy setup was straightforward. The setup is automated, which makes it instantaneous.
What about the implementation team?
We deployed HAProxy in house.
What was our ROI?
We did see a return on investment from HAProxy. On a scale of one to five, I would rate our ROI with a four.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
HAProxy is mostly open-source, so I cannot provide any pricing or licensing numbers.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We did not evaluate any other options before landing on HAProxy.
What other advice do I have?
The advice I would give to others looking to implement HAProxy is to go with the on-prem version if you can. The cloud version is a bit different because a lot depends on HAProxy's compatibility with the cloud vendor itself. I would say to stick with the solution your cloud provider has put out.
On a scale of one to ten, with one being the worst and 10 being the best, I would give HAProxy a nine overall.
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.
Network manager admin at a manufacturing company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Open-source, simple to install, and reliable
Pros and Cons
- "I can't speak to all of the HAProxy features because we don't use them all, but load balancing is very good."
- "While troubleshooting, we are having some difficulties. There are no issues when it is running; it is stable and very good; however, if there is a troubleshooting issue or an incident occurs, we will have issues because this is open-source."
What is our primary use case?
For production purposes, we use HAProxy, which is a web application.
Our primary use case is load balancing.
What is most valuable?
We are not fully utilizing it. We are only responsible for load balancing. The most used and valuable is load balancing.
I can't speak to all of the HAProxy features because we don't use them all, but load balancing is very good.
What needs improvement?
Although HAProxy is essentially open-source, many features are not available.
While troubleshooting, we are having some difficulties. There are no issues when it is running; it is stable and very good; however, if there is a troubleshooting issue or an incident occurs, we will have issues because this is open-source.
We are only experiencing problems at that time. Otherwise, everything is fine.
Because we need to search for a document or some troubleshooting information. That could be beneficial to us.
To resolve the troubleshooting issues, additional documentation and troubleshooting are required.
The product is satisfactory. However, additional documentation, additional technical documents, and troubleshooting steps are the types of things that can only make this solution better. Also, more clarity on where the package is hitting and where it is stopping is needed.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using HAProxy for four or five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
HAProxy is generally stable. We had only two days of problems in the last five years, this was an extremely rare occurrence. We are back to being stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We have publicly permitted our web application for this, and approximately 5,000 users are using it.
It is used every day because it is our production-related order-lease domain or something along those lines. We are also using this as a dealer, with approximately 5,000 users per day.
Normal users. We will publish it on one of the websites that provide the production information. We provide the order and invoice the order to the product. These are the types of details. This is our dealership's publisher for an automotive dealership.
It is essentially the dealership's publisher.
HAProxy is scalable. There are plans to expand to the Japan team. They may suggest a paid tool.
How are customer service and support?
I would rate their technical support a three out of five. Additional documents and troubleshooting should be made available on the internet.
There is no direct support. We use open-source software and do not rely on their support. We rely on our knowledge, and we are studying the implementation.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Previously, we were using F5. F5 is a very good product.
It's a great product that is also very stable and scalable, but it is very expensive in terms of price.
We switched to HAProxy because it is open-source.
We are also working with Zscaler and FortiGate.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is easy.
I would rate the initial setup a three out of five.
What about the implementation team?
We completed the installation in-house and did not use a third party.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
HAProxy is free open-source software.
What other advice do I have?
It will primarily be determined by the budget, the size of their company's budget, or if you have the budget. I would always recommend the F5. Because it has more clarity and more features are available in the F5, if budget is an issue, go with HAProxy. It's a good product.
If you are not utilizing very basic things that you should be using for the HAProxy.
Depending on the balance If the balance is very minimal, they should use HAProxy, an open-source solution, but if the balance is larger, such as an enterprise, they should use F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic.
I would rate HAProxy an eight out of ten.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
System Administrator at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
A versatile tool for load balancing and traffic management in different environments
Pros and Cons
- "It is a crucial tool in ensuring smooth service provision without any interruptions."
- "There is room for improvement in HAProxy's dynamic configuration."
What is our primary use case?
The main use cases are for load balancing and limiting traffic. It is utilized as a front-end server for balancing HTTP traffic, as well as for balancing traffic between application servers and database servers like Redis and Elasticsearch. HAProxy is employed for both HTTP and TCP load balancing purposes, ensuring optimal resource utilization and preventing overloading of any single server.
How has it helped my organization?
When dealing with scenarios that require splitting or monitoring Redis clusters with external masters and two slaves, HAProxy becomes essential. This is because HAProxy can significantly reduce delays in Redis communication when switching roles between servers. This reduction in delay improves application load time and prevents unnecessary downtime during server switchovers. It is a crucial tool in ensuring smooth service provision without any interruptions.
What needs improvement?
There is room for improvement in HAProxy's dynamic configuration. Currently, dynamic changes are lost when reloading the service, and it would be beneficial if dynamic configuration changes could be applied without losing the configuration or reloading the service, ensuring backups and preserving the static configuration.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using it for six years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I would rate its stability capabilities nine out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It provides impressive scalability. I would rate it ten out of ten.
How are customer service and support?
In a specific situation where a question was posted on a forum, the issue was successfully resolved within a day or the following day. I would rate their customer support services nine out of ten.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We worked with NGINX, but these two solutions are not entirely comparable as they serve different primary purposes. NGINX functions both as a web server and a reverse proxy server, while HAProxy is primarily a load-balancing proxy. They both have load-balancing capabilities, but their main focus and functionalities are distinct.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup can be challenging. I would rate it six out of ten.
What about the implementation team?
For simpler cases, the deployment process can take around one hour. For more complex scenarios, it can extend up to one week.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
We are using HAProxy as an open-source.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
NGINX is easier to configure and is well-suited for load balancing against an application server. However, HAProxy is more versatile and can be fine-tuned for various scenarios, particularly in load-balancing multiple application servers. In terms of deployment, HAProxy is easy to integrate into a green-blue deployment approach. It allows for simpler configuration and sending commands to its sockets.
What other advice do I have?
Based on customer stability and varying use cases, I recommend choosing this solution. I would rate it nine 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.
Consultant at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
Open-source, cuts costs, and is straightforward to set up
Pros and Cons
- "It is scalable."
- "The GUI should be more responsive and show the detailed output of logs."
What is our primary use case?
The product is an open-source load balancer. We deploy it for our application as a front-end server where all the users come on that particular HAProxy server, and it is redirected to our back-end servers.
How has it helped my organization?
It helps include the reverse proxy or more security modules for enhancing security. It helps with enhancing web application security.
What is most valuable?
The solution is open-source.
HAProxy can provide protocol-level load balancing. We can use the HTTP or HTTPS load balancing, including the PCP and UDP protocol level load balancing.
The setup is straightforward.
It is scalable.
The solution is stable.
It's saved project costs and time. Since the deployment is very easy and the open-source functionality saves a huge amount of cost in terms of project deployment.
What needs improvement?
The product should have more security and dashboard functionality for monitoring so that any administrator can see the usability and track all the incoming and outgoing requests. It should have a better dashboard GUI, and more security models should be there. The GUI should be more responsive and show the detailed output of logs. We need it to be more visible.
Documentation could be better.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've used the solution for around four years. We started using it in 2018.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It's reliable and very stable. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It's a scalable product.
There are more than 2,000 users on the product right now.
We already scaled up with the different sets, so we previously scaled this solution.
How are customer service and support?
I did not solicit the help of any technical support.
The documentation that's available on the HAProxy is okay. There is some room for improvement in that regard.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Neutral
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We previously used a traditional load balancer.
We used a TCP load balancer. The NGNIX, we use for the reverse proxy for HTTP and HTTPS protocol. However, for particular applications, we required TCP load balancer, so we used HAProxy there.
HAProxy provides the TCP and UDP port protocol-based load balancing, and NGINX is the reverse proxy, providing a great solution for web traffic, HTTP, and HTTPS.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is very simple and straightforward. It's not too complex.
One single administrator can manage and deploy this product.
What about the implementation team?
I handled the deployment of the product myself.
What was our ROI?
We just replaced some of our OEM solutions with an open-source solution. We did not invest anything in that, we just save the money on some OEM products. We have to purchase some load balancers, however, we replaced this with the open-source option and they are performing well. Therefore, there is a return on investment in the sense that we replaced that traditional load balancer that we paid for.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
We do not need to pay for the product as it is open-source.
There's no additional cost. We can deploy and manage on our own, and community support is available in HAProxy.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We evaluated NGINX prior to using this product.
What other advice do I have?
If you require a TCP and UDP protocol for load balancing, this is a very great solution.
I'd rate the solution eight 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.
CTO at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Stability is number one and when configured correctly, it could run for years
Pros and Cons
- "Stability is number one."
- "The reconfigurability in terms of the tooling could be improved and maybe an editor plugin can be added."
What is our primary use case?
HAProxy has been our primary SSL termination technology in production. We use it for our own product, which is Qivos Cloud. It is a software service and we used HAProxy for high-traffic API gateways. These products load balance our servers.
How has it helped my organization?
We are using HAProxy, for secondary loads and use cases. There are times that our customers require specific static IP addresses versus AWS CloudFront, which uses IP pools. So when we have such environments, we use HAProxy for SSL termination and load balancing.
What is most valuable?
Stability is number one. We have never had problems with it. When configured correctly, it could run for years. We never had a task that we could not achieve with HAProxy.
What needs improvement?
The reconfigurability in terms of the tooling could be improved and maybe an editor plugin can be added. Something that might help with syntax or common use cases.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using HAProxy for more than five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
HAProxy is very stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We had no problem with scalability both in terms of scaling HAProxy itself, or the backend behind it.
How are customer service and support?
We only used it for public resources, like the manual, documentation, or stack overflow. We could find the solutions easily.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We replaced HAProxy with CloudFront because we switched to a serverless option. We did not have a problem with HAProxy. We re-architected our solutions. SSL termination and load balancing now happen in AWS CloudFront and application load balancer.
What about the implementation team?
We deployed in-house. We learned how to use it. I would say less than a month. In the beginning, we only did specific things and over time we gained expertise and we expanded our users, but it was, more or less, a month to go with production.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
HAProxy was very easy to script, but it had a learning curve back then. I am talking about four or five years ago. Once we gained our expertise on what we wanted to do with HAProxy, it was easier. We only used the open-source version of HAProxy for pricing.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
HAProxy is something that we manage ourselves, so we cannot directly compare it with Amazon CloudFront. If we only focus on technology, it is the same features. The only reason we switched is because of management costs.
What other advice do I have?
HAProxy is definitely a dependable choice. The only thing that needs some attention is the initial learning curve. When you get past that, it is a great tool to use. We are very happy with it. I would rate HA Proxy a nine 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.
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