Overview
Metaphor Gateway is a next-generation NAT gateway purpose-built for AWS, using eBPF technology to process network traffic directly in the Linux kernel. Where AWS NAT Gateway charges hourly plus data processed, Metaphor Gateway runs on your own EC2 instances - delivering significant throughput with sub-millisecond latency, often under 1% CPU overhead.
Metaphor Gateway integrates natively with AWS Gateway Load Balancer (GWLB) via GENEVE encapsulation, enabling transparent insertion into your VPC traffic flow with automatic scaling and high availability. The included Scry dashboard gives you real-time visibility into every connection traversing your NAT - fleet health status, TCP state distribution, per-connection byte counters, top talkers, and critical event alerts. No more flying blind through your NAT layer.
For organizations that need secure egress, Metaphor Gateway supports optional Cloudflare Connector tunnel integration, routing user traffic through Cloudflare's global network for security filtering, while keeping health check traffic on the direct path. Deployment is simple via CloudFormation.
Highlights
- Replace AWS NAT Gateway and cut costs by up to 90%. Metaphor Gateway processes multi-Gbps on a t4g.medium, often with under 1% CPU overhead. A single instance, or multi-az deployment replaces AWS NAT Gateways, eliminating per-hour and per-GB data processing charges while giving you full control over your NAT infrastructure.
- Real-time traffic monitoring dashboard included. The Scry dashboard shows fleet health, live connection tracking, TCP state distribution, top talkers, and critical alerts. Giving you complete visibility into your NAT layer that AWS NAT Gateway simply doesn't provide.
- Simple deployment with GWLB integration and optional Cloudflare Zero Trust filtering and networking. Deploy via CloudFormation with native Gateway Load Balancer support, automatic GENEVE encapsulation, and VNI detection. Add Cloudflare Connector tunnel integration for secure egress with advanced networking options.
Details
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You can now purchase comprehensive solutions tailored to use cases and industries.
Features and programs
Financing for AWS Marketplace purchases
Pricing
- ...
Dimension | Cost/hour |
|---|---|
t4g.small Recommended | $0.01 |
m8g.12xlarge | $0.01 |
r8gn.4xlarge | $0.01 |
c8gn.12xlarge | $0.01 |
m7g.metal | $0.01 |
c7gn.xlarge | $0.01 |
r8gn.medium | $0.01 |
m8g.24xlarge | $0.01 |
c7gn.12xlarge | $0.01 |
c6gn.xlarge | $0.01 |
Vendor refund policy
All sales are final. This product is provided as-is without warranty of any kind, express or implied. No refunds will be issued. Customers are encouraged to test using the AWS free tier or a short-duration deployment before committing to ongoing use.
Support is available as a separate offering from Metaphor.
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Delivery details
64-bit (Arm) Amazon Machine Image (AMI)
Amazon Machine Image (AMI)
An AMI is a virtual image that provides the information required to launch an instance. Amazon EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud) instances are virtual servers on which you can run your applications and workloads, offering varying combinations of CPU, memory, storage, and networking resources. You can launch as many instances from as many different AMIs as you need.
Version release notes
Release v0.0.11
Additional details
Usage instructions
Deploy using the provided CloudFormation templates. The NAT gateway template creates all required resources (instance, security groups, IAM roles). For GWLB mode, use the GWLB template. Access instances via AWS Systems Manager Session Manager. See https://github.com/metaphor-cloud/flow for documentation.
Support
Vendor support
Email support is available at support@metaphor.cloud for all Marketplace subscribers. Enterprise Support options are available.
AWS infrastructure support
AWS Support is a one-on-one, fast-response support channel that is staffed 24x7x365 with experienced and technical support engineers. The service helps customers of all sizes and technical abilities to successfully utilize the products and features provided by Amazon Web Services.
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