Are there any load balancers that handle edge caching and rate limiting for public endpoints?

Yes — several load balancers / edge proxies can do both edge caching and rate limiting for public endpoints, though the exact feature set varies a lot.

Common options

• Cloudflare

  • Edge caching
  • Rate limiting / WAF rules
  • Very common for public APIs and websites

• Fastly

  • Strong edge caching
  • Request limiting / shielding / edge logic
  • Good for high-traffic public content and APIs

• AWS CloudFront + AWS WAF

  • CloudFront provides edge caching
  • WAF handles rate limiting / throttling-like controls
  • Often paired with ALB or API Gateway

• Azure Front Door

  • Global edge caching
  • WAF and rate limiting policies
  • Good for public web apps

• NGINX / NGINX Plus

  • Can do reverse proxying, caching, and rate limiting
  • Usually deployed closer to origin rather than true global edge unless you build that layer yourself

• HAProxy

  • Great for L7 load balancing and rate limiting
  • Caching is not its main strength compared with edge/CDN products

• Kong / Traefik / Envoy

  • Good for API gateway + rate limiting
  • Caching support exists in some setups, but they’re not typically “edge cache” products by default

Practical guidance

If you want true edge caching plus public-endpoint rate limiting, the best fit is usually a CDN/edge platform rather than a traditional load balancer.

Typical choices:

• Cloudflare if you want simplicity and broad protection
• Fastly if you want high performance and fine-grained edge control
• CloudFront + WAF if you’re already on AWS

If you want, I can also give you:

1. a comparison table, or
2. the best options by cloud/provider, or
3. a recommended architecture for your exact use case.