API gateway comparison
Kong vs. KrakenD
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
KrakenD
API7 Enterprise
Architecture
NGINX/OpenResty (Lua)
Go (single binary)
NGINX/OpenResty (Lua) + etcd
Scalability
High (NGINX-based), but clustering requires manual tuning and PostgreSQL/Cassandra expertise
Stateless, horizontal scaling, but limited to smaller-scale deployments and limited advanced features
Cloud-native, dynamic scaling
Performance
Built on NGINX and Lua, providing high performance and scalability
Optimized for low-latency aggregation, minimal overhead due to Gos efficiency and lack of runtime plugins
Ultra-high performance, NGINX-based, high throughput, use etcd as configuration center for faster config propagation and dynamic routing
Deployment
Supports Kubernetes, VM, and bare-metal deployments but it can be complex for large-scale deployments
Lightweight and easy to deploy in various environments, including Kubernetes and Docker
Flexible deployment, including on-premises, multi-cloud, and hybrid cloud environments
Plugins
Offers a diverse array of plugins, but several advanced features are exclusive to the Enterprise Edition
Limited and less extensive plugin ecosystem and less robust monitoring capabilities
Provides over 100 open-source plugins, supporting custom development in Lua, Wasm, Go, JavaScript, Python, Node.js, and Java
Security & Authentication
Supports JWT, OAuth2, API keys, and ACLs, but may add complexity and performance overhead
Supports various security features, including JWT and OAuth2
Offers advanced security and authentication features like JWT, OIDC, OAuth2, fine-grained RBAC and IAM, and mTLS
Observability & Monitoring
Provides real-time metrics, trace, and logs for observability, with plugins for Prometheus and OpenTelemetry
Provides detailed traces and contextual logs for enhanced troubleshooting but may lack advanced monitoring features
Provides comprehensive observability and monitoring capabilities, including detailed access logs and auditing
Vendor Lock-in
Controlled by Kong Inc. raises potential concerns about future licensing changes
open-source nature and lightweight architecture reduce vendor lock-in
Vendor-agnostic, based on Apache APISIX, which is fully open source and licensed under the Apache 2.0 License
Developer Portal
Offers Kong Dev Portal for API development, testing, and management
API7 Portal provides robust management and monitoring tools and powerful monetization strategies
Auditing & Reporting
Logs API requests, but lacks built-in auditing features
Supports this feature through its `krakend audit` command, but lacks intuitive and comprehensive analysis
Advanced auditing & logging with detailed API access records and event tracking
Pricing Model
Expensive enterprise tier, complex pricing
Offers transparent pricing, not tied to traffic or usage
Cost-effective, flexible subscription/usage-based
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