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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
42
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Kong Gateway Enterprise
Ranking in API Management
6th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
24
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2025, in the API Management category, the mindshare of Amazon API Gateway is 13.8%, down from 14.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Kong Gateway Enterprise is 6.1%, down from 6.4% 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

"All information and data needs to be sanitized before it enters a private domain and we use this solution to do this."
"It's easy to integrate and provide support for existing AWS services if I use the AWS API gateway."
"Amazon API Gateway is a very fast solution."
"The best thing about Amazon API Gateway is that it can authenticate and authorize requests without going to our back end."
"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."
"Its security feature is the most valuable because it is mainly a security solution. It has easy authentication and authorization, and its integration is also useful."
"A most valuable feature of Amazon API Gateway is how quickly we can connect to backend services and have APIs accessible from anywhere."
"This solution gives you a unified way to have your API accessed."
"In our buying companies' perspective, it was easier to use compared to other platforms. The markets were pretty familiar with the solutions."
"This is a solid intrusion prevention system that combines a firewall and antivirus in a single solution."
"The tool's scalability is good...The solution's technical support is good."
"It boasts remarkable speed and stability, and these qualities, particularly the gateway's resilience, are standout features for me."
"The most valuable features of Kong Enterprise are the out-of-the-box open source easy functionality."
"The most valuable feature of Kong Enterprise is its capability to integrate with various security tools."
"Kong enterprise has significantly enhanced our ability to manage and secure our Microservices. Its most valuable feature is monitoring."
"It offers a wide range of plugins that we leverage, including OIDC, Rate Limiting, Lambda functions, and more."
 

Cons

"An interface more friendly for new users would be helpful."
"If I take into consideration the past three to four years, during which I used the tool, I would say that some missing and external configurations were not possible in the product, and it was a bit difficult to manage."
"We would like to see more UI-based monitoring."
"When it comes to DDoS protection, I would like to see that become available at the API Gateway level."
"Currently, I'm not facing any issues with Amazon API Gateway, which satisfies my requirements. I'm pretty happy with what Amazon API Gateway offers, but as its pricing is on the higher side, that's one area for improvement in the solution. What I'd like to see in the next release of Amazon API Gateway is an improvement in the status checks you get from the monitoring feature of the solution. Currently, you get the number of requests received, the number of reports, etc., but if there are more details than what's given by Amazon API Gateway, that will improve the solution."
"We faced a few issues with the documentation."
"Like most Amazon services, and this one's the same, you're expected to effectively do your own support, and any other support is by emails, so it's quite limited."
"I believe that there could be more features associated with analytics since it is an area where the product lacks."
"The technical support team's response time needs to be improved."
"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."
"We are facing issues with the solution's features like reports and traffic analysis."
"Understanding the configurations and knowing what needs to be done can be a bit difficult initially."
"From an improvement perspective, the product should offer more readily available connectors and also allow for more seamless AI integrations."
"Kong Enterprise has decided not to support the web portal feature anymore, but I think that feature should stay in the on-premises solution."
"We would like to see an automatic data API when we have a table in the database."
"There should be an easier way to integrate with other solutions, even though it's the same API solution layer. Comparability will be a good improvement."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Fees are volume-based."
"We use all open-source technology."
"The pricing model for API Gateway is advantageous due to its serverless nature, as it depends on traffic volume."
"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."
"There is an annual licensing cost to use Amazon API Gateway."
"Since it's a serverless solution, Amazon API Gateway is not so expensive."
"The product is a little expensive."
"The product is expensive."
"Kong Enterprise's pricing is reasonable for our company size."
"There are many factors that influence the price of Kong Enterprise, such as scale, licenses, and usage."
"Kong Enterprise is cheaper than Apigee. I rate its pricing as four out of ten."
"Kong Enterprise's pricing is at par compared to the other technologies."
"There is a need to pay towards the licensing charges...In some areas, the functionalities are available free of charge."
"The product is reasonably priced because it goes by the SaaS model."
"I don't have any information on licensing costs currently."
"The price is really reasonable compared to that of alternative solutions."
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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
14%
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: January 2025.
838,640 professionals have used our research since 2012.