We define our enterprise architect and Kong has been selected as an API integration layer solution. We deploy in some of the markets if they're ready to go, and some of the markets are not really ready because we have 10 different markets at the moment. It's an API integration layer so that we can expedite our microservices to the market.
Head of Digital Delivery at a insurance company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Easier and more unique to use compared to other platforms
Pros and Cons
- "In our buying companies' perspective, it was easier to use compared to other platforms. The markets were pretty familiar with the solutions."
- "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."
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
In our buying companies' perspective, it was easier and more unique to use compared to other platforms. The markets were pretty familiar with the solutions.
What needs improvement?
It can be our personal, our company's issue, but when we were doing separate projects, we were facing a lot of solutions. For some of our major projects, the API was not using Kong as a group platform. Sometimes they use Microsoft Azure or AWS. That's not a problem, but I think it's wasting some of our budget. We set Kong as an enterprise standard. 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.
For how long have I used the solution?
We implemented it around May time.
Buyer's Guide
Kong Gateway Enterprise
December 2024
Learn what your peers think about Kong Gateway Enterprise. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: December 2024.
824,067 professionals have used our research since 2012.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is a stable solution.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Compared to other products, I think it's pretty scalable.
I think we have around 100 users.
Our plan to increase usage depends on the market deployment plan. I think we should because we just started that journey last year and it's ramping up at the moment. We do have a plan to increase the manpower.
How are customer service and support?
I would rate their support a seven or eight out of ten. I'm pretty okay with the technical support.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We previously used Axway. We switched to Kong because of its reliability and scalability.
We have a lot of other platforms that we're using as the API integration platform, but from the enterprise architect's perspective, Kong is the standard.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was relatively okay, but it depends on the market. Some of the markets we had easier solutions to deploy but we had trouble with some other markets we had trouble to make them understand and go through the legacy systems so that we could link different layers to Kong's API platform. The difficulty depends on the market.
What other advice do I have?
The dependency on the legacy has to be very minimal so that you can leverage your new platform or integration layer and it will be easier to build up to scale. I think those parts are the important ones you have to think through.
There are so many new technologies, and I think at the moment low-code is very popular to use. If we get into the no-code or low-code aspect, sometimes coding can be easier. If they can provide relevant no-code or low-code service to the customers, not making the process very complex, I think that will be the main winner for the platform service providers.
I would rate Kong an eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Hybrid Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Technology Analyst at Taashee
The solution can be used for load-balancing, caching, and rate-limiting APIs, but its reports and traffic analysis could be improved
Pros and Cons
- "We use the solution for load-balancing, caching, and rate-limiting APIs."
- "We are facing issues with the solution's features like reports and traffic analysis."
What is most valuable?
We have already registered a couple of APIs in Kong Community, and we are exposing those Kong APIs to our product. ITMS services will be consuming those APIs from Kong. We use the solution for load-balancing, caching, and rate-limiting APIs.
What needs improvement?
If Kong provides a 30-day license like other API gateways, we can promote the solution to more customers because they are willing to use it. We are unable to showcase the security and functional features during the trial period, which is an issue for us. We are facing issues with the solution's features like reports and traffic analysis.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using the solution for more than one year.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I rate the solution a seven out of ten for stability.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Around 20 users are using the solution in our organization.
I rate the solution a six out of ten for scalability.
How was the initial setup?
The solution's initial setup is very easy.
What other advice do I have?
With Kong Enterprise, we are facing challenges in getting the trial license, reports, and traffic analysis. We have one customer onboarded, but we need to demonstrate to them the features, and we need to migrate from IBM One Gateway to Kong.
The solution is deployed on the cloud.
Overall, I rate the solution a six out of ten.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Buyer's Guide
Kong Gateway Enterprise
December 2024
Learn what your peers think about Kong Gateway Enterprise. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: December 2024.
824,067 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Chief Architect at AT&T
Is reasonably priced and easy to install
Pros and Cons
- "I like everything about it. It provides the security we need."
- "We would like to see an automatic data API when we have a table in the database."
What is our primary use case?
A central API gateway solution.
How has it helped my organization?
The concept of using central API gateway is the change, not the product. Kong was selected based on our CBA (choose between alternative) process.
What is most valuable?
Almost everything needed is there.
What needs improvement?
We would like to see an automatic data API - when we have a database table or a store procedure - we want to be able to select it and the data API will be created automatically for GET and CRUD operations in OData format. This feature already exists in other solution and it is a game changer - reducing efforts, risks, and reliability.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've used it for almost three or four years. I first implemented it eight or nine years ago.
How was the initial setup?
The setup of Kong itself was very easy.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The price is reasonable compared to that of alternative solutions.
Everyone should conduct a CBA based on his requirements in order to choose the right solution for his organization.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Yes.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate Kong Enterprise at nine on a scale from one to ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Director Of Engineering at INtegralzone
Provides good performance but lacks isolated data plans for easy management of federated teams
Pros and Cons
- "The solution provides good performance."
- "The developer portal needs to be improved."
What is our primary use case?
We deploy this solution to our customers who are enterprise companies. We are partners with Kong and I'm the director of engineering.
What is most valuable?
The solution provides good performance.
What needs improvement?
They need to improve the developer portal. There are currently no isolated data plans for federated teams that I can manage easily, and that's something they should look at.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using this solution for one year.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution is scalable. We've deployed in numerous companies so there are likely many thousands of users.
How are customer service and support?
The technical support is good.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is reasonably easy, it takes about two to three weeks.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Licensing costs are reasonable compared to other products.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We have been evaluating other solutions and for now Kong comes out on top in terms of performance.
What other advice do I have?
I would advise to start with a POC to make sure all use cases are met.
I rate this solution seven out of 10.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
Manager Information Systems at a insurance company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Good support, easy functionality, and low maintenance
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable features of Kong Enterprise are the out-of-the-box open source easy functionality."
- "Kong Enterprise can improve the customization to be able to do the integration properly."
What is our primary use case?
Kong Enterprise was used for standard API gateway use cases for Microarchitecture.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable features of Kong Enterprise are the out-of-the-box open source easy functionality.
What needs improvement?
Kong Enterprise can improve the customization to be able to do the integration properly.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Kong Enterprise for approximately two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability of Kong Enterprise could improve and the robustness around some of the modules.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Kong Enterprise can improve in scaling.
How are customer service and support?
The support from Kong Enterprise is good.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup of Kong Enterprise is straightforward. The installation was easy.
What about the implementation team?
There is not a lot of maintenance using Kong Enterprise.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
There are many factors that influence the price of Kong Enterprise, such as scale, licenses, and usage.
What other advice do I have?
Kong Enterprise is a good solution. However, you need to have the ability to properly use it. You need to have in-house skills to make the optimum usage of the solution. It's not a solution that you can expect to be providing everything off the shelves. You have to create your own hooks to properly benefit.
I rate Kong Enterprise an eight out of ten.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Solutions Architect at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
Open-source, has integrated plugins, simple to install, and has excellent support
Pros and Cons
- "Kong Enterprise has excellent plugin support."
- "Because it is open-source, it should be less expensive than others."
What is our primary use case?
We have several microservices that are secure using Kong Enterprise. Our microservices are managed through Kong Enterprise API management.
We have integrated with IDP to secure it. We use multiple plugins that are bundled with Kong Enterprise.
What is most valuable?
The features of Kong are plugin-based network services. It enables us to include our security policy when creating customers.
Kong Enterprise has excellent plugin support. This is a feature that I was looking for.
What needs improvement?
The price could be lower.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Kong Enterprise for more than one year.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Kong Enterprise's stability has never been an issue for us.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Kong Enterprise scales easily.
We have more than 300 people who use this solution.
We have teams of 30 to 40 people running multiple products that are used with Kong Enterprise.
How are customer service and support?
We had a problem with the 1.2 EMT enablement, and they provided a solution. They've been very helpful. The technical team is always available to help us with our problems.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
In my previous company, I used an API.
How was the initial setup?
The installation went well. It was good. This installation was completed by another team.
When I have installed this solution, I found it to be easy. For me, the installation takes about 15 to 20 minutes on average.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Because it is open-source, it should be less expensive than others.
The licensing fees are paid yearly.
What other advice do I have?
I would recommend this solution to others.
I would rate Kong Enterprise an eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Digital Architect at a comms service provider with 1,001-5,000 employees
A combination firewall and anti-virus solution that is dependable and easy to deploy
Pros and Cons
- "This is a solid intrusion prevention system that combines a firewall and antivirus in a single solution."
- "The OS upgrades are not as frequent as they should be and they are bulky."
What is our primary use case?
We mostly use this as an intrusion prevention system.
How has it helped my organization?
It gives us a good product to offer our clients that fits with our local economy.
What is most valuable?
The combination of IPS (Intrusion Prevention System) and the antivirus feature included in that firewall provides a unified advantage. We need one solution and not two. That is one of the main features our customers are really interested in.
What needs improvement?
Mainly, I would say they need to improve the updates. The updates of the OS for Fortinet seem to require a lot of bandwidth. It would be good if they required fewer resources. Also, they might improve the frequency of the releases.
I say this because here in East Africa the Internet is not as reliable or as fast as in the UK — or other places outside Africa. The OS for the Fortinet is great — super, even — but the releases are bulky and cause some problems.
Even though I like the way that both the intrusion prevention and antivirus are incorporated in this one solution, I think they should improve how you switch between one feature and the other. It's not very user-friendly for someone who's not experienced with the product. It is also quite different from other firewalls, like Check Point.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have used this public cloud solution for two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
As far as the stability of the solution: so far so good. I've not had any complaints from the customer side at all. That means the installations and the product are solid, so I can say with confidence that it is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I think the product is scalable. That's a great feature of the product in the sense that it is easier to show the return on investment while using it because it's easier to scale. You do not have to reinvest in a lot of other new equipment as an upgrade.
How are customer service and technical support?
I haven't contacted technical support, because when we deploy the system administrator uses the product. We have not heard of problems from administrators and according to them, they didn't experience any kind of difficulties. The only problem that a client had was the problem or the electricity. So that's different than actually having a problem with the firewall. They had no issues with the firewall itself.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I had some experience with the Check Point UTM firewall, but it was brief. All I can say is that Fortinet is more user-friendly compared to Check Point it's not as complex to deploy as Check Point.
The other thing is regarding support. The support for Check Point is a bit slow, at least it is not as fast as Fortinet.
How was the initial setup?
For me, I think the installation was straightforward and we do that ourselves. The deployment doesn't take very long — it was a maximum of three hours. That is for the initial setup. There are not many places to change settings or that need customization.
For the deployments, we use two to three people and that is enough. We use one person for the metric and then one or even two for the systems. It is probably more than we need, but we do that just to be sure things go well.
What about the implementation team?
The provider is Microsoft Azure. But we do all the installations by ourselves.
What was our ROI?
For us, the benefit of being able to scale without it having to cost a lot of money is good for our clients in our economic environment, so it is also good for us.
What other advice do I have?
I rate the product as an eight out of ten. It is an eight because their updates are not regular and easier to work with.
The clients that we have already deployed are happy with it. So for now, if any new project needs a firewall solution, we are confident that we get positive feedback from the people using this product. For our future plans, I would hope we can deploy it more, but I cannot be sure about that because of the economic situation and how many new clients we will have.
The only advice I have for people considering this as a solution is to make sure that they have a proper internet connection and good bandwidth. That's the thing I feel is the biggest problem for my case.
It's user-friendly, at least for now. It is hard to predict if they will add complexity if they upgrade features.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Vice President – Technology and Architecture at a venture capital & private equity firm with 51-200 employees
Developers and Architects favourite, great for initial adaptors, companies scaling up
Pros and Cons
- "Good at intercepting traffic and modeling APIs around that."
- "They could focus more on pricing."
What is our primary use case?
Our primary use case of this solution was a secure API Gateway hosted on public cloud infrastructure. The manageability, deployment architecture options and scalability were key considerations. Kong is great at organising our API ecosystem and providing the required manageability, scalability observability and security.
I'm the vice president of technology and architecture and we are customers of Kong Enterprise.
How has it helped my organization?
Kong is our API and Micro-services backbone.
What is most valuable?
Simplicity, its plugin architecture and scalability.
The new Developer Portal, intercepting traffic and modeling APIs around that is great.
vibrant community support and an open source DNA
What needs improvement?
Kong has a huge community and lot of open source implementations and satisfied users.
The motivation to move to Enterprise edition is still license and cost based. Kong can look at different options like managed and Hosted PaaS, different consumption tiers to make the transition practical and easier.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using Kong for the past 3+ years. Have done two opensource API Gateway Implementations. Evaluated and considered Enterprise edition more than once. No qualms or complaints. There open source version works for most of the cases. Solid product.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability is fine. We had one outage because of our own infrastructure operations. Other than that, from a stability perspective it runs smoothly because of the very good underlyingKong platform architecture.
Misconfigured plug-ins mess up your environment. Always have the configuration preserved or implement Kong using Terraform scripts or using other config as code options.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Kong is a super scalable product as far as my current experience goes. The scalability is awesome. We could scale up easily and could organise our as multiple clusters and secure them.
How are customer service and technical support?
I believe the technical support is good although I haven't had to use it much.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Mulesoft, Tibco Mashery, Oracle SOA, webMethods,WsO2 and SAP products and all of them
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was relatively straightforward. There were some small issues with documentation. Deployment took a couple of weeks. One of the neat things about Kong is the huge community they have and there's a lot of help that comes from there. It gives you the plugins and solutions for you to be self-sufficient.
What about the implementation team?
Implemented on our own
What was our ROI?
Zero Investment on open source version. It works like enterprise grade. The enterprise version has lot of great features. Interms of ROI it’s intangible, we could deliver APIs for business needs Ina very agile manner.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I'm not sure of the licensing costs because they like to keep it confidential. As far as I know their enterprise license is all or none one big bundle.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Well seen all of them.
Kong is a developer friendly, and ground up community supported platform.
What other advice do I have?
I would highly recommend Kong, especially for people who are experiencing a cost bloat using other platforms. Great choice for startup, scale ups and enterprises.
I would rate this solution an 8 out of 10.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Hybrid Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Kong Gateway Enterprise Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros
sharing their opinions.
Updated: December 2024
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Download our free Kong Gateway Enterprise Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros
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