Why look beyond Kong

Kong is a widely adopted API gateway known for its performance, extensibility, and open-source foundation (Kong Gateway). It supports various deployment models, from self-hosted to hybrid and SaaS-managed via Kong Konnect. Its plugin-based architecture allows for custom functionalities such as authentication, traffic control, and analytics. However, organizations may consider alternatives for several reasons.

One common driver is integration with specific cloud ecosystems. Cloud-native API gateways from AWS, Google Cloud, and Azure offer deeper integration with other services within their respective platforms, potentially simplifying configuration and management for users already invested in those clouds. Another factor can be the complexity of managing a self-hosted Kong Gateway, particularly for teams preferring fully managed solutions. While Kong Konnect addresses this with a managed control plane, some alternatives offer simpler operational models for specific use cases. Furthermore, pricing structures, particularly for managed services, and the availability of specific features like advanced developer portals or monetization capabilities, can also lead organizations to evaluate other API management platforms.

Top alternatives ranked

  1. 1. AWS API Gateway — Managed API creation, publishing, maintenance, monitoring, and security

    AWS API Gateway is a fully managed service that enables developers to create, publish, maintain, monitor, and secure APIs at any scale. It integrates natively with other AWS services like AWS Lambda, EC2, and S3, making it a suitable choice for applications built entirely within the AWS ecosystem. API Gateway supports RESTful APIs and WebSocket APIs, offering features such as traffic management, authorization and access control, monitoring, and API version management. It also provides caching capabilities to improve API performance and reduce the load on backend services. Users can define custom authorizers using AWS Lambda functions, enabling fine-grained access control.

    Compared to Kong, AWS API Gateway offers a serverless, pay-as-you-go model, removing the operational overhead of managing underlying infrastructure. While Kong provides an open-source gateway that can be self-hosted for maximum control, AWS API Gateway delivers a fully managed experience, simplifying deployment and scaling for AWS users. Its tight integration with CloudWatch for monitoring and X-Ray for tracing offers comprehensive observability within the AWS environment. For organizations heavily invested in AWS, API Gateway often reduces complexity and operational costs by leveraging existing cloud infrastructure and expertise.

    • Best for: Serverless applications, AWS-native architectures, microservices on AWS, and organizations prioritizing managed services within the AWS ecosystem.

    Learn more on the AWS API Gateway profile page or visit the official AWS API Gateway site.

  2. 2. Apigee (Google Cloud) — Comprehensive API management platform for enterprise-grade APIs

    Apigee, Google Cloud's API management platform, provides a comprehensive suite of tools for designing, securing, deploying, and scaling APIs. It targets enterprise-level organizations with features like advanced analytics, developer portals, monetization, and robust security policies. Apigee supports hybrid deployment models, allowing enterprises to manage APIs across on-premises, multi-cloud, and Google Cloud environments. Its policy enforcement capabilities include traffic management, authentication (OAuth, SAML), and threat protection. The platform also offers an integrated developer portal to facilitate API discovery and consumption by external developers.

    Apigee's strength lies in its extensive feature set for the full API lifecycle, often exceeding the core gateway functionalities of open-source Kong Gateway. While Kong offers a strong, extensible gateway, Apigee provides a more opinionated, end-to-end platform with built-in features for API monetization, advanced analytics, and a comprehensive developer experience. For organizations with complex API programs requiring sophisticated governance, analytics, and partner ecosystem management, Apigee offers a more integrated solution. Its focus on enterprise needs and hybrid cloud capabilities makes it a strong contender for large-scale deployments, especially for those already utilizing Google Cloud services.

    • Best for: Large enterprises, hybrid and multi-cloud API management, API monetization, advanced analytics, and comprehensive developer portal needs.

    Learn more on the Apigee profile page or visit the official Apigee site.

  3. 3. Azure API Management — Publish, secure, transform, and monitor APIs from a single platform

    Azure API Management (APIM) is a fully managed service that helps organizations publish, secure, transform, maintain, and monitor APIs. It allows users to expose backend services as API endpoints, providing features such as authentication, authorization, rate limiting, caching, and request/response transformations. APIM integrates with other Azure services like Azure Active Directory, Azure Functions, and Azure Logic Apps, making it a natural fit for applications developed within the Azure ecosystem. It supports various API types, including REST, SOAP, and WebSocket APIs, and offers a developer portal for API discovery and testing.

    Similar to AWS API Gateway, Azure API Management provides a managed service experience, reducing the operational burden compared to self-hosting Kong Gateway. While Kong is highly extensible through plugins, Azure APIM offers a rich set of built-in policies for common API management tasks, which can simplify configuration. For enterprises primarily operating on Azure, APIM offers seamless integration with existing identity management, monitoring, and compute services. Its developer portal and policy engine are designed to support a wide range of use cases from internal APIs to partner and public APIs, aligning with enterprise requirements for governance and control within the Azure cloud.

    • Best for: Azure-centric organizations, hybrid cloud API management, exposing backend services as APIs, and integrated security with Azure Active Directory.

    Learn more on the Azure API Management profile page or visit the official Azure API Management site.

  4. 4. Google Cloud Platform — Broad suite of cloud services including API management capabilities

    Google Cloud Platform (GCP) offers a range of services that can form an API management solution, with Apigee being its flagship offering. Beyond Apigee, GCP provides other tools like Cloud Endpoints, which integrates with Google Cloud Load Balancing and offers basic API management features for services deployed on GCP compute platforms (e.g., App Engine, Compute Engine, GKE, Cloud Functions). Cloud Endpoints supports OpenAPI specifications and provides features like authentication, monitoring, and logging. For serverless applications, API Gateway (distinct from Apigee) is available, offering a fully managed service to create secure, scalable APIs for Google Cloud serverless backends.

    While Kong provides a dedicated API gateway, GCP offers a more modular approach, allowing users to combine various services to build an API management solution tailored to their needs. For example, Cloud Endpoints can serve as a lightweight gateway for internal services, while Apigee handles more complex enterprise requirements. This flexibility can be beneficial for organizations already using GCP and looking for tightly integrated API solutions without the overhead of managing a separate gateway like self-hosted Kong. The choice between Kong and GCP's offerings often depends on the existing cloud infrastructure, the complexity of API management requirements, and the preference for managed services versus self-hosted options.

    • Best for: Organizations with existing Google Cloud infrastructure, serverless applications on GCP, and those seeking flexible API management solutions within the Google Cloud ecosystem.

    Learn more on the Google Cloud Platform profile page or visit the official Google Cloud Platform documentation.

  5. 5. Microsoft Azure — Comprehensive cloud platform with integrated API management services

    Microsoft Azure, similar to Google Cloud, offers a broad portfolio of cloud services that include API management capabilities, with Azure API Management (APIM) being the primary offering. Beyond APIM, Azure provides other services that interact with APIs, such as Azure Functions for serverless API backends, Azure Logic Apps for integrating APIs, and Azure Front Door for global routing and security of web applications and APIs. Azure's ecosystem is designed to provide end-to-end solutions for application development and deployment, including robust identity management (Azure Active Directory) and comprehensive monitoring (Azure Monitor).

    Azure's integrated approach means that API management is part of a larger cloud strategy, offering deep integration with other Azure services. While Kong is an API gateway that can be deployed anywhere, Azure's solutions are optimized for the Azure cloud, providing a unified experience for development, deployment, and operations. For organizations committed to the Microsoft ecosystem, leveraging Azure API Management and related services can simplify governance, security, and scalability. The decision between Kong and Azure's offerings often comes down to cloud strategy, existing infrastructure, and the desire for a fully integrated, managed platform versus a more portable, open-source gateway.

    • Best for: Organizations with existing Microsoft Azure investments, hybrid cloud scenarios, and those seeking integrated API management within the Azure ecosystem.

    Learn more on the Microsoft Azure profile page or visit the official Microsoft Azure documentation.

  6. 6. AWS EC2 — Infrastructure for self-hosting custom API gateways or Kong Gateway

    AWS EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud) provides configurable compute capacity in the cloud. While not an API management solution itself, EC2 instances can be used as the underlying infrastructure to host self-managed API gateways, including the open-source Kong Gateway. This approach offers maximum control over the environment, allowing organizations to customize the gateway's configuration, plugins, and scaling strategies. EC2 instances can be integrated with other AWS services like Amazon VPC for networking, Amazon EBS for storage, and Amazon CloudWatch for monitoring, providing a robust platform for self-hosted solutions.

    Choosing to run Kong Gateway on EC2 provides a high degree of flexibility and control, similar to deploying it on any other virtual machine infrastructure. This contrasts with fully managed API gateway services like AWS API Gateway, which abstract away the underlying servers. For organizations that require specific customizations not available in managed services, or prefer to maintain full control over their gateway's lifecycle and infrastructure, self-hosting on EC2 is a viable option. It allows for a hybrid approach where the gateway is managed by the user, but leverages AWS infrastructure for scalability and reliability. This option requires more operational effort compared to managed services but offers greater customization potential.

    • Best for: Organizations requiring full control over their API gateway infrastructure, custom gateway deployments, and those already managing their own applications on EC2.

    Learn more on the AWS EC2 profile page or visit the official AWS EC2 documentation.

  7. 7. AWS Lambda — Serverless compute for building API backends or custom authorizers

    AWS Lambda is a serverless compute service that lets you run code without provisioning or managing servers. While not an API gateway itself, Lambda functions are frequently used as backends for APIs exposed through AWS API Gateway. They can also be used to implement custom authorizers for API Gateway, providing flexible authentication and authorization logic. This combination allows developers to build highly scalable and cost-effective API solutions where the compute resources are automatically managed and scaled based on demand.

    Using Lambda with AWS API Gateway offers a serverless alternative to traditional API gateway deployments, including self-hosted Kong. Instead of managing a gateway instance, developers focus on writing business logic, and AWS handles the operational aspects. This approach aligns with a serverless-first strategy, reducing infrastructure management overhead. While Kong is a robust gateway, integrating Lambda with AWS API Gateway provides a cohesive serverless API solution within AWS. For use cases where APIs primarily serve serverless functions, this combination can offer significant operational simplicity and cost efficiency compared to maintaining a separate gateway.

    • Best for: Serverless API backends, custom API authorization logic, event-driven architectures, and reducing operational overhead in AWS environments.

    Learn more on the AWS Lambda profile page or visit the official AWS Lambda documentation.

Side-by-side

Feature Kong AWS API Gateway Apigee (Google Cloud) Azure API Management Google Cloud Platform Microsoft Azure AWS EC2 AWS Lambda
Category API Gateway, API Management API Gateway API Management API Management Cloud Platform Cloud Platform IaaS (Compute) Serverless Compute
Deployment Model Self-hosted, Hybrid, SaaS Fully Managed (SaaS) SaaS, Hybrid Fully Managed (SaaS), Hybrid Managed Services (various) Managed Services (various) Self-managed (IaaS) Fully Managed (Serverless)
Open Source Option Yes (Kong Gateway) No No No No (platform) No (platform) No (platform) No
Primary Integration Any backend AWS services Google Cloud, Hybrid Azure services, Hybrid GCP services Azure services Any OS/App AWS services
Extensibility Plugins (Lua, Go, JS) Lambda Authorizers, Custom Integrations Policies, Custom Code Policies, Custom Code APIs, SDKs, Service Combinations APIs, SDKs, Service Combinations Full OS/App control Code-based
Developer Portal Konnect feature Basic (customizable) Included, advanced Included, customizable Via Apigee/Cloud Endpoints Via APIM User-defined N/A
Monetization Features Via Konnect Limited (usage plans) Advanced, built-in Limited (usage plans) Via Apigee Via APIM N/A N/A
Pricing Model Open Source, Free Tier, Subscription Pay-per-use, tiered Subscription, usage-based Subscription, usage-based Pay-per-use (various services) Pay-per-use (various services) Hourly/On-demand Pay-per-use (invocations, duration)

How to pick

Selecting an API management solution involves evaluating your organization's specific needs, existing infrastructure, and strategic goals. Here's a decision-tree style guide to help you navigate the options:

  1. Cloud Strategy & Ecosystem Alignment:
    • Are you heavily invested in a specific cloud (AWS, Azure, Google Cloud)?
      • If yes, consider the native API management solutions: AWS API Gateway for AWS, Azure API Management for Azure, and Apigee or Cloud Endpoints within Google Cloud Platform. These offer deep integration with other cloud services, simplifying security, monitoring, and scaling within that ecosystem.
      • If no, or you operate in a multi-cloud/hybrid environment, Kong's flexibility in deployment across various infrastructures might be a stronger fit.
  2. Operational Overhead & Management Preference:
    • Do you prefer a fully managed service with minimal operational burden?
      • If yes, managed services like AWS API Gateway, Azure API Management, or Apigee are designed to handle infrastructure management, scaling, and maintenance. Kong Konnect also offers a managed control plane.
      • If no, and you require maximum control over the gateway's environment, configuration, and plugins, self-hosting Kong Gateway on infrastructure like AWS EC2 or your own data centers would be appropriate.
  3. Feature Set & API Lifecycle Needs:
    • Do you need an end-to-end API management platform with advanced features like monetization, extensive analytics, and a comprehensive developer portal?
      • If yes, enterprise-grade solutions like Apigee or Azure API Management are generally more feature-rich in these areas compared to the core Kong Gateway. Kong Konnect provides some of these features in its managed offering.
      • If no, and your primary need is robust API routing, traffic control, and security at the gateway level, Kong Gateway or AWS API Gateway (for AWS-native) might suffice.
  4. Extensibility & Customization:
    • Do you require deep customization through plugins or custom code for specific business logic at the gateway level?
      • If yes, Kong Gateway's plugin architecture is a significant strength, allowing for extensive customization using Lua, JavaScript, or Go. Managed services offer some customization through policies and serverless functions (AWS Lambda for AWS API Gateway), but typically less granular control over the gateway's core behavior.
  5. Cost Model:
    • Do you prefer an open-source solution with community support and the flexibility to manage costs through self-hosting?
      • If yes, Kong Gateway (open-source) is a strong candidate, with costs primarily tied to infrastructure and operational effort.
      • If no, and you prefer a pay-as-you-go model with predictable costs based on API calls and data transfer, cloud-native managed services are generally more suitable.