specification: API Commons Plans
specificationVersion: '0.1'
schema: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/interface-research/main/schema/api-commons.yml#/$defs/Plans
provider: Istio
providerId: istio
created: '2026-05-04'
# Provenance stamped 2026-08-11: this artifact was written by the API Evangelist
# bulk sweep dated 2026-05-04, not harvested from the provider. See roadmap#35.
method: generated
modified: '2026-05-05'
reconciled: true
tags:
  - Service Mesh
  - Open Source
  - Networking
  - Kubernetes
  - CNCF
description: Istio is a free, open-source service mesh project hosted by the Cloud Native Computing
  Foundation (CNCF) and licensed under Apache License 2.0. There is no paid Istio plan, no per-API-call
  charge, and no central billing entity. Cost is borne by the operator running Istio (compute, observability
  backends, support contracts from third-party distributions such as Solo.io Gloo Mesh, Tetrate Service
  Bridge, Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh, or hyperscaler-managed Istio offerings).
sources:
  - https://istio.io/
  - https://istio.io/latest/about/faq/
  - https://github.com/istio/istio/blob/master/LICENSE
plans:
  - id: istio-open-source
    name: Istio (Open Source)
    type: freemium
    description: Apache 2.0-licensed open source service mesh. Free to download, run, and modify.
    entries:
      - label: Software license
        name: license
        type: subscription
        metric: month
        limit: -1
        timeFrame: month
        geo: global
        unit: 1
        price: '0.00'
        userMultiplied: false
    elements:
      - name: Apache 2.0 license
      - name: CNCF graduated project
      - name: Networking, security, observability APIs
      - name: Community support via istio.io and Slack
      - name: Optional commercial distributions from Solo.io, Tetrate, Red Hat, hyperscalers
maintainers:
  - FN: API Evangelist
    email: info@apievangelist.com
x-canonical:
  generated: '2026-10-08'
  vocabulary: all/0-working/economics/plans-canonical.yml
  models:
  - subscription
  units:
  - period
  plans:
  - name: Istio (Open Source)
    access: freemium
    model: subscription
    model_how: derived
    units:
    - period
    periods:
    - month