Kong is an API gateway and management platform for routing, securing, and observing API traffic across microservices, available both open-source and as a managed service. Kong Gateway is open-source under Apache 2.0 and self-hostable, while Konnect is the managed SaaS offering with a free tier; managed pricing is usage- or quote-based. Core capabilities including rate limiting, authentication management, and a developer portal are delivered through its plugin ecosystem. Founded in 2017, Kong carries SOC 2 and ISO 27001 attestations and serves both startups self-hosting the open-source gateway and enterprises adopting the managed platform.
api-gatewayopen-sourcepluginskonnect
Overview
- Founded
- 2017
- Pricing tier
- Mid
- Startup-friendly
- Yes
- Enterprise-ready
- Yes
API gateway
- Free tier
- Yes: Kong Gateway (OSS) is free to self-host; Konnect SaaS has a free tier.
- Open-source
- Yes
- Self-hostable
- Yes
- Rate limiting
- Yes
- Auth management
- Yes
- Developer portal
- Yes