API gateway comparison
Kong vs. Gravitee API Management
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
Kong
Gravitee
API7 Enterprise
Architecture
Built on NGINX and OpenResty, optimized for high performance but adds latency with Lua scripting
Built using Java and Spring Boot, featured a modular architecture with a gateway, management API, and analytics components
Built on Apache APISIX, high-performance with LuaJIT-based execution, lower latency than Kong
Deployment
Easy installation, supports Kubernetes, VM, and bare-metal deployments
Complex and difficult to install, limited environments
Easy installation with flexible deployment, supports multi-cloud, hybrid-cloud, and edge environments
GraphQL Support
Provides core GraphQL capabilities through plugins
Supports GraphQL APIs and plugins to proxy GraphQL traffic
Serverless Support
Limited native serverless support, but can be integrated with serverless platforms like AWS Lambda
Offers serverless support through its integration with Kubernetes and other cloud-native technologies
Provides robust serverless support, allowing seamless integration with serverless architectures and functions
Kafka, gRPC, Websocket, Webhook Support
Protocol Mediation
Offers limited support for client REST API over backend Kafka and gRPC use cases
Offers strong support for mediating between different protocols
Offers strong support for mediating between different protocols
Performance & Scalability
Scalable but relies on PostgreSQL or Cassandra for persistence, which may create bottlenecks
Good performance and scalability, supports horizontal scaling and integrates with Kubernetes for orchestration
Ultra-high performance and low latency, with a single-core QPS of 18,000 and an average delay of 0.2 ms, can handle 1 trillion+ API calls per day
Plugins
Large ecosystem of plugins, but enterprise features are locked behind a paid version
Extensive plugin support, with plugins for security, logging, and protocol mediation
Open-source plugin ecosystem, including custom plugins, security, observability, and authentication, and allows plugin development in multiple languages
Security & Authentication
Supports JWT, OAuth2, API keys, and ACLs
Offers advanced security features, including OAuth, JWT, and mTLS
Supports JWT, OIDC, OAuth2, fine-grained RBAC and IAM, mTLS, and FIPS 140-2 compliance
Observability & Monitoring
Integrates with Prometheus, Grafana, and OpenTelemetry
Built-in analytics and monitoring dashboard
Advanced monitoring dashboards, OpenTelemetry support, and AI-based anomaly detection
Developer Portal
Offers Kong Dev Portal for API documentation and onboarding, but in the Enterprise version
Offers API Developer Portal to publish APIs and event streams, built-in analytics and monitoring dashboard
API7 Portal provides robust management and monitoring tools and powerful monetization strategies
Auditing & Reporting
Yes, logs API requests, but lacks built-in auditing features
Yes, supports v4 APIs monitoring, supports integration with SIEM systems
Yes, advanced auditing & logging with detailed API access records and event tracking
CI/CD Integrations
Supports CI/CD pipelines but requires manual configurations for integration
Support for CI/CD and Infrastructure as code use cases through management and deployment options via APIs, CRds, etc.
Offers seamless CI/CD integrations, enabling DevOps teams to automate API deployment, configuration management, and testing
Community Support
Large open-source community, but enterprise support is expensive
Active and supportive open-source community
Strong open-source & enterprise support, with growing engagement and contributions
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