This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by Gimhan Rajapaksha
When you’re working on scalable systems, three terms often pop up: Load Balancer, Reverse Proxy, and API Gateway.
At first, they might sound interchangeable since they all sit between the client and the backend servers. But in reality, each plays a unique role in modern system architecture.
Let’s break them down with simple explanations and comparisons.
🔹 1. Load Balancer
Main Purpose: Distributes incoming traffic across multiple servers.
- Why it matters: Ensures no single server gets overwhelmed, improves fault tolerance, and boosts availability.
- How it works: It checks the health of servers and routes requests to the available ones.
- Extra features: Can do session persistence, round-robin scheduling, and weighted distribution.
📌 Think of it like traffic police directing cars into different open lanes so that traffic flows smoothly.
🔹 2. Reverse Proxy
Main Purpose: Acts as an intermediary between clients and backend servers.
- Why it matters: Hides the server’s identity and provides an extra security layer.
- How it works: Accepts the request on behalf of the server, processes it (like SSL termination), and forwards it internally.
- Extra features: Caching, compression, centralized logging, security filtering.
📌 Think of it as a receptionist at the front desk — you never talk directly to the people inside; the receptionist filters and forwards your request.
🔹 3. API Gateway
Main Purpose: A specialized proxy designed for microservices architectures.
- Why it matters: Manages APIs and routes requests to the correct microservice.
- How it works: Handles cross-cutting concerns like authentication, rate limiting, monitoring, and even API versioning.
- Extra features: Request aggregation, transformations, policy enforcement.
📌 Think of it as a smart security gate that not only lets you in but also checks your ID, enforces rules, and guides you to the right department.
✅ Quick Comparison
| Feature | Load Balancer | Reverse Proxy | API Gateway |
|---|---|---|---|
| Traffic distribution | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ (for APIs) |
| SSL termination | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Caching | ❌ | ✅ | Sometimes |
| Authentication | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
| Best for | Scaling apps | Hiding servers | Microservices |
🔹 How They Work Together
These tools aren’t mutually exclusive. In many modern systems, you’ll see them combined:
- A Load Balancer distributes traffic to multiple nodes.
- A Reverse Proxy adds security and caching in front of those nodes.
- An API Gateway manages communication across microservices.
Together, they provide scalability, security, and manageability in distributed architectures.
🔹 Final Thoughts
If you’re building or maintaining scalable systems, it’s worth understanding the unique role of each:
- Load Balancer = distributes traffic efficiently
- Reverse Proxy = hides and protects backend servers
- API Gateway = orchestrates APIs in microservices
This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by Gimhan Rajapaksha
Gimhan Rajapaksha | Sciencx (2025-09-21T23:51:55+00:00) Load Balancer vs Reverse Proxy vs API Gateway — Explained Simply. Retrieved from https://www.scien.cx/2025/09/21/load-balancer-vs-reverse-proxy-vs-api-gateway-explained-simply/
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