Consul
Automate networking for simple and secure application delivery.
Overview
Consul is a multi-platform service networking solution that provides service discovery, health checking, and a service mesh. It is designed to connect and secure services across dynamic, distributed infrastructure, including Kubernetes, VMs, and bare-metal servers. Its service mesh capabilities, known as Consul Connect, provide secure service-to-service communication with automatic mTLS encryption and identity-based authorization.
✨ Key Features
- Service Discovery
- Health Checking
- Service Mesh with mTLS
- Multi-platform (Kubernetes, VMs, etc.)
- Network Infrastructure Automation
- Multi-cloud and Hybrid-cloud support
- UI Dashboard
🎯 Key Differentiators
- Strongest multi-platform support (K8s, VMs, multi-cloud)
- Integrated service discovery is a core feature
- Tight integration with other HashiCorp products (Vault, Nomad)
- Mature and widely adopted for service discovery
Unique Value: Provides a single control plane for service discovery, health checking, and service mesh across any runtime or cloud.
🎯 Use Cases (4)
✅ Best For
- Hybrid-cloud service mesh
- Centralized service discovery and catalog
- Secure service-to-service communication for legacy and modern applications
💡 Check With Vendor
Verify these considerations match your specific requirements:
- Users seeking a Kubernetes-only, lightweight solution
- Teams that do not need service discovery capabilities outside of the mesh
🏆 Alternatives
Unlike Kubernetes-native meshes like Linkerd, Consul is platform-agnostic, making it ideal for bridging the gap between Kubernetes and legacy VM-based applications.
💻 Platforms
✅ Offline Mode Available
🔌 Integrations
🛟 Support Options
- ✓ Email Support
- ✓ Phone Support
- ✓ Dedicated Support (Enterprise tier)
🔒 Compliance & Security
💰 Pricing
✓ 14-day free trial
Free tier: Open source version is free. HashiCorp Cloud Platform (HCP) has a free tier for development.
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