# Does Linkerd support slow start load balancing?

**URL:** <https://linkerd.buoyant.io/t/does-linkerd-support-slow-start-load-balancing/805>\
**Category:** Linkerd General Discussion\
**Tags:** proxy, configuration\
**Created:** [August 21, 2025, 2:17am UTC](https://linkerd.buoyant.io/t/does-linkerd-support-slow-start-load-balancing/805 "2025-08-21T02:17:32Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![aidenlim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dfb087/32.png) [@aidenlim](https://linkerd.buoyant.io/u/aidenlim)\
**Post date:** [August 21, 2025, 2:17am UTC](https://linkerd.buoyant.io/t/does-linkerd-support-slow-start-load-balancing/805/1 "2025-08-21T02:17:32Z")

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Hello

I’m evaluating load balancing behavior in service meshes and came across Envoy’s _slow start mode_, which progressively ramps up traffic to newly added endpoints. This is particularly useful for cases like Kubernetes scale-up events, where new pods may need a warm-up period before handling full production load.

I could not find any mention of slow start (or equivalent functionality) in the Linkerd documentation.

- Does Linkerd currently support a slow start mechanism for load balancing?

- If not, is there any known workaround or planned feature to handle gradual traffic ramp-up for new endpoints?

Any guidance or clarification would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

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**Author:** ![bdols](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e495f1/32.png) [@bdols](https://linkerd.buoyant.io/u/bdols)\
**Post date:** [February 4, 2026, 11:26pm UTC](https://linkerd.buoyant.io/t/does-linkerd-support-slow-start-load-balancing/805/2 "2026-02-04T23:26:17Z")

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I’ve been generally satisfied with flagger for progressive delivery

> **[Linkerd Canary Deployments | Flagger](https://docs.flagger.app/tutorials/linkerd-progressive-delivery)**