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Amazon API Gateway vs Kong Gateway Enterprise comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 17, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Amazon API Gateway
Ranking in API Management
3rd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
44
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Kong Gateway Enterprise
Ranking in API Management
6th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
24
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the API Management category, the mindshare of Amazon API Gateway is 13.3%, down from 14.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Kong Gateway Enterprise is 6.6%, up from 6.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
API Management
 

Featured Reviews

Dinesh Agrawalla - PeerSpot reviewer
Requires minimal configuration and easy-to-launch
I would like to improve the restrictions and security elements of the solution, as there are certain configurations that are not currently supported. There are certain restrictions that cannot be implemented without web access. In the next release, I would like a feature that can validate requests and filter out any jQuery injections. Additionally, I would like to prioritize these requests. I've noticed that such features are usually not available in web applications.
AmitKanodia - PeerSpot reviewer
Provides role-based access control and can be easily customized with Lua script
Kong is meant for north-south communications, so it will be interesting to see what solutions they can come up with in the realms of east-west communications, service-to-service communications, and Zero Trust architecture. I believe that if they can provide for these areas, then they will be able to solve the overall integration and security concerns for microservices architecture in general.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"This solution gives you a unified way to have your API accessed."
"Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten."
"Amazon API Gateway facilitates our serverless architecture, particularly with Lambda, by allowing us to perform various tasks. For instance, Lambda functions authorize API calls, execute multiple workloads, and integrate with other services like Azure and Kubernetes. Additionally, we leverage Lambda functions behind the Amazon API Gateway to query databases, process data, and interact with different systems."
"t is easy for integrations if it is deployed in AWS Services."
"The most valuable feature in Amazon API Gateway is the itinerary release."
"The Lambda features are very cost-effective since you do not have to run your servers 24/7."
"Amazon API Gateway can integrate with ECS and Lambda."
"The product is really good when it comes to API lifecycle management, and it is not just something that includes the balancing part or the security aspect but also the routing and the fallback mechanism."
"In terms of stability, the tool's team has made some good efforts, and my company is very happy with the product's approach."
"Kong's most valuable features are its lightweight performance when handling millions of requests and the ability to write custom plugins to enhance security, such as end-to-end encryption, even in the open-source version."
"The most valuable feature of the solution stems from the fact that it seamlessly supports a vast number of tools."
"The tool's scalability is good...The solution's technical support is good."
"The tool's feature that I find most beneficial is rate limiting. In our usage, especially in the financial sector, we prioritize limiting API usage. This is crucial because we provide APIs to other companies and must ensure they adhere to their allocated usage limits. Without rate limiting, there's a risk of excessive usage, which could result in significant costs."
"The most valuable features of Kong Enterprise are the out-of-the-box open source easy functionality."
"The features I like include ease of operation and implementation in a cloud environment, the dashboarding features for API statistics, and the user-friendly developer portal."
"This is a solid intrusion prevention system that combines a firewall and antivirus in a single solution."
 

Cons

"API Gateway could improve by allowing debugging capabilities, particularly when dealing with high volumes."
"It's hard to configure. There's a lot of options but it's very hard, it's very confusing."
"An interface more friendly for new users would be helpful."
"From a use cases perspective, you need to have an internal and external gateway. AWS can only handle external traffic so has to be used together with another solution."
"It would be useful to have a more complete development environment for the developer, with different integrative capabilities to manage all the life cycles for the API. I think the full version formula for that is really useful. They should improve the development environment for easier integration."
"The user interface could be improved, as well as customer support and having a local customer representative in a country."
"API Gateway could improve by allowing debugging capabilities, particularly when dealing with high volumes. At scale, it is expensive, and latency sometimes occurs."
"API Gateway lacks some governance features that MuleSoft offers, and there are additional features that could make it even better."
"The ease of billing is lost when Kong is not available directly on the Azure marketplace. This is one area where they can improve."
"The tool needs to improve in areas like documentation and UI."
"The main challenge, in my opinion, is the price. It's difficult to convince our management to approve the budget to purchase it from our vendor. There are no technical problems."
"The open-source version of Kong does not support a dashboard, which would be very helpful."
"The tool needs improvement in UX."
"Kong is meant for north-south communications, so it will be interesting to see what solutions they can come up with in the realms of east-west communications, service-to-service communications, and Zero Trust architecture. I believe that if they can provide for these areas, then they will be able to solve the overall integration and security concerns for microservices architecture in general."
"The solution should include policy features that are available in other solutions like MuleSoft API manager but missing in Kong Enterprise."
"Kong Enterprise can improve the customization to be able to do the integration properly."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Amazon API Gateway is a very cheaply priced product."
"My understanding is that it easily goes to $14,000 or $15,000 USD each month for each account, and we have several such accounts."
"We use all open-source technology."
"Amazon API Gateway has various pricing plans, but I cannot give the exact cost, though I can say that it's expensive. On a scale of one to five, I'd rate the pricing for Amazon API Gateway as two, as the solution is one of the most expensive products in the market for API management."
"This is a pay-per-use service, where you only pay for what you use."
"Azure products are more cost-effective than AWS solutions"
"I rate the tool's price as seven on a scale of one to ten, where one means low price and ten means high price."
"I rate the platform's pricing a five out of ten."
"Kong Enterprise's pricing is at par compared to the other technologies."
"The product is reasonably priced because it goes by the SaaS model."
"There is a need to pay towards the licensing charges...In some areas, the functionalities are available free of charge."
"The licensing is expensive."
"The price is really reasonable compared to that of alternative solutions."
"It's expensive in Thailand (10 million baht, in Thai currency)."
"The licensing fees are paid yearly."
"Kong Enterprise is cheaper than Apigee. I rate its pricing as four out of ten."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
15%
Computer Software Company
14%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
6%
Financial Services Firm
20%
Computer Software Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Insurance Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

Which is better - Apigee or Amazon API Gateway?
Amazon API Gateway is a platform that supports the creation and publication of API for web applications. The platform can support thousands of simultaneous API calls, and it provides monitoring, ma...
How does Mulesoft Anypoint API Manager compare with Amazon API Gateway?
I have found that Mulesoft Anypoint API Manager is the best integration tool out there for API management. It is easy to implement and learn; it provides several options for deployment, (including ...
Which is better - Azure API Management or Amazon API Gateway?
If you use Azure products, API Management is a great solution. It solves many of the problems of externalizing web services. For example, when you need versioning, establish a developer portal and ...
How does Kong Enterprise compare with Mulesoft Anypoint API Manager?
The Mulesoft Anypoint API Manager was designed with its users in mind. Though it is a reasonably complex piece of software, it is easy to install and upgrade. While there are different things that ...
What do you like most about Kong Enterprise?
The tool's feature that I find most beneficial is rate limiting. In our usage, especially in the financial sector, we prioritize limiting API usage. This is crucial because we provide APIs to other...
What needs improvement with Kong Enterprise?
The open-source version of Kong does not support a dashboard, which would be very helpful. We use an open-source tool called Konga for basic dashboard needs, but it lacks support. It would be bette...
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Autodesk, Fox Digital Consumer Group, iFlix, UK Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA), Miovision, Olympusat, PhotoVogue, Royale International Group, Veracode
Cargill, Zillow, Ferrari, WeWork, Healthcare.gov, Yahoo! Japan, Giphy, SkyScanner
Find out what your peers are saying about Amazon API Gateway vs. Kong Gateway Enterprise and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
847,772 professionals have used our research since 2012.