API gateway comparison
AWS API Gateway vs. Kong
Are you finding it challenging to choose a vendor for your API gateway, and are you struggling to make a decision? Our team of experts has conducted a comprehensive analysis and we are here to assist you in finding the best API gateway that suits your needs.
Comparison
AWS API Gateway
Kong
API7 Enterprise
Architecture
Fully-managed AWS service, managed through AWS console and CLI
Based on NGINX and OpenResty, uses PostgreSQL/Cassandra for configuration
Built on NGINX/LuaJIT, lightweight and high-performance with etcd as a storage center
API Management Capabilities
Lacks advanced features like canary releases or WebSocket optimizations
Extensive API management capabilities through its plugin ecosystem
High-performance API gateway, extensible via plugins, cloud-native friendly, flexible enough to be integrated with third-party tools for extendibility
Performance & Scalability
Moderate latency due to reliance on AWS infrastructure, limited QPS compared to alternatives
High (NGINX-based), but clustering requires manual tuning and PostgreSQL/Cassandra expertise
Extremely high (Apache APISIX), lightweight, 23,000 QPS per core with 0.2ms delay, outperforms Kong by 200% QPS
Deployment Flexibility
Can be spun up across multiple global AWS regions but more advanced routing would require additional setup, management, and costs
Supports multi-cloud and hybrid deployments but requires complex cluster management at scale
Easy installation with flexible deployment, supports multi-cloud, hybrid-cloud, and edge environments
Integration Complexity
Requires writing custom lambda authorizers to integrate with third-party IdP, which is more costly, error-prone, and complex
Offers flexible integration through a rich plugin architecture
Flexible enough to be integrated with third-party tools for extendibility, allows for custom integrations and extensions through its plugin ecosystem
Multi-Tenancy
Tied to a single control plane, making it more challenging to isolate teams and environments and build a truly federated and multi-tenant API platform
Allows teams to manage their own API infrastructure within a federated platform
Strong multi-tenancy support with fine-grained access control and isolation capabilities, suitable for complex enterprise environments requiring tenant separation
Protocol Support
Primarily supports HTTP/REST APIs with limited support for WebSocket APIs, not suitable for diverse protocol requirements
Supports protocols including TCP, UDP, HTTP/S, gRPC, and REST, native support for GraphQL is available only in the enterprise edition
Broad support, supports protocols including TCP, UDP, HTTP/1.1, HTTP/2, HTTP/3, gRPC, WebSocket, MQTT, Dubbo, SOAP, and custom Layer 4 and Layer 7 protocols
Cost Structure
Scalability costs rise significantly with high traffic, and integration with AWS services (e.g., Lambda) adds hidden expenses
Expensive enterprise tier, complex pricing, costs escalate with services and premium plugins
Low total cost of ownership due to its open-source core, pay-for-support model, cost-effective at scale
Developer Experience
Beginners may find AWS API Gateway challenging due to its intricate configuration requirements and integration with other AWS services
Unfriendly for troubleshooting
Provides extensive documentation and tutorials to assist developers, minimizing the learning curve for new users
Developer Portal
Offers Kong Dev Portal for API documentation and onboarding
API7 Portal provides robust management and monitoring tools and powerful monetization strategies
Vendor Lock-in
High lock-in risk due to AWS ecosystem dependency, migration to other clouds is costly
Controlled by Kong Inc. raises potential concerns about future licensing changes, Enterprise features require vendor reliance
Based on Apache APISIX, which is fully open source and licensed under the Apache 2.0 License, Kubernetes-native and multi-cloud friendly
Plugins
Tight AWS integration (IAM, Lambda) but limited plugins and customization
Plugin-rich but many critical plugins (e.g., OIDC, FIPS 140-2 compliance) are enterprise-only, plugins are hard to customize
100+ open-source plugins (e.g., Kafka, SAML) with hot reloading, including custom plugins, security, observability, and authentication
Analytics
Provides detailed metrics on API performance, latency, and error rates
Offers API analytics and monitoring through plugins, advanced analytics only available in Enterprise
Real-time observability with Prometheus, Grafana, and SkyWalking
Security
Supports SSL/TLS encryption, request validation, and throttling
Supports JWT, OAuth2, API keys, and ACLs
Supports JWT, OIDC, OAuth2, IP whitelisting, mTLS, and FIPS 140-2 compliance
CI/CD Integrations
Can be integrated with AWS CDK for infrastructure as code but has limited direct CI/CD pipeline integration
Kong supports CI/CD through Kong Konnect and plugins that facilitate integration with CI/CD tools
Declarative YAML/JSON configurations, Helm charts for Kubernetes, offers native integration with ArgoCD, Jenkins, and GitHub CI/CD
Community Support
Benefits from a vast community of developers and a wealth of AWS resources
Relatively active open-source community
Active open-source Apache APISIX community, vendor-backed enterprise support with contributions to the Apache project
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