It is difficult to provide an apples-to-apples feature and function comparison of each service mesh provider. The technology landscape changes so fast that by the time you read this book, some features may be available that we mentioned as not available in a particular implementation.
The following comparison is not an exhaustive one by any means. We are comparing with Linkerd 2.x and not showing Linkerd 1.x capabilities. In this comparison, a cross mark does not necessarily mean that it is a missing feature, and at times, it could be a good thing. For example, Consul does not have a centralized control plane, and it could be a good thing for performance reasons.
Let's take a look:
| Feature | Istio | Linkerd | Consul |
| Who coined the term service mesh? | ✖ | ✔ | ✖ |
| Pioneering of new ideas | ✔ | ✖ | ✖ |
| Official service mesh project... |