Calico is an open-source unified platform that brings together networking, security, and observability for Kubernetes, whether you’re running in the cloud, on-premises, or at the edge. The solution uses the lowest amount of processing resources, which is especially important in edge environments where compute resources are limited.
“Calico is the only Kubernetes networking technology with a pluggable data plane. Calico can be used with iptables, nftables, eBPF, VPP, and Windows, giving practitioners flexibility and portability to move from one environment to another simply,” Peter Kelly, VP of Engineering at Tigera, the creators of Calico, told Help Net Security.
Calico can scale from small Kubernetes clusters to deployments with thousands of nodes, and from a single cluster environment to a multi-cluster environment.
Calico features
- Data plane options: Choose from eBPF, standard Linux, Windows, or VPP to match your environment’s needs.
- Interoperability: Runs across all major Linux distros, public clouds, bare metal, and virtual machines.
- High performance, low overhead: Designed for speed and efficiency to help you get the most out of your cluster resources.
- Scalability: Built to scale with your Kubernetes clusters without compromising performance.
- Security: Fine-grained access controls and built-in WireGuard encryption keep your workloads secure.
- Policy support: Continues to set the standard for Kubernetes network policy implementation.
- Networking tools: Leverage BGP, VXLAN, service advertisement, and more for flexible networking.
- Open source community: Backed by 200+ contributors from organizations around the world.
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“In March 2025, Tigera rolled out version 3.30 of Calico, bringing some major upgrades. With this release, users get access to the same observability and security features found in the commercial version of Calico. That means visibility into cluster traffic, easier microsegmentation and namespace isolation, and ingress management, all without leaving the open-source version,” Kelly said.
Calico is available for free on GitHub.
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