Kong
by Kong Inc.
Unified API and AI connectivity platform.
Score
Score
Our verdict
Kong offers a robust suite of tools for API and AI management, catering to organizations of various sizes. Its comprehensive features, including the Kong Gateway and AI Gateway, provide scalable and secure solutions. The Plus plan offers enhanced capabilities at a competitive price point, while the Enterprise plan caters to large enterprises with complex needs. However, the platform may present a learning curve for non-technical users and could be considered costly for small startups with limited requirements.
Overview
Score breakdown
Overall score
Scores are editorial assessments by the Compare Best AI team on a 0–10 scale.
Expert review
CBAI Editorial Team
Compare Best AI · Editorial Team
## Overview
How we tested
Days tested
7 days
Tasks evaluated
- ·API management
- ·AI agent orchestration
- ·Service mesh implementation
- ·Event streaming management
Method
Compared against Apigee and AWS API Gateway using identical inputs
Reviewer
CBAI Editorial Team
Plans & pricing
Free trial
Try Konnect
- 30 days, no credit card
- Enterprise functionality for 30 days
- No gateway limits during trial
- Analytics retained 30 days
Plus
Self-serve Konnect
- Charged per gateway / month
- Up to 5 serverless, 2 hybrid, 2 dedicated cloud gateways
- AI Gateway: up to 5 unique LLM models
- Up to 2 developer portals / 20 published APIs
- 1M API requests/month analytics included
Enterprise
- No gateway limits; self-hosted gateways available
- Unlimited portals and published APIs
- SSO, audit logs
- Dedicated CSM / TAM, higher SLAs
Pricing may vary by region. Always verify on the vendor's website.
Feature comparison
| Feature | Kong | Apigee | AWS API Gateway | DataRobot | Google AI Platform | Istio | Linkerd | Apache Kafka | AWS EventBridge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Core | |||||||||
| API Gateway | |||||||||
| AI Gateway | |||||||||
| Service Mesh | |||||||||
| Event Gateway | |||||||||
| Pricing | |||||||||
| Free plan available | |||||||||
| Dev | |||||||||
| Public API | |||||||||
| Integrations | |||||||||
Is it right for you?
Good fit for
API Developers
Streamline API management and security with Kong's comprehensive tools.
AI Teams
Orchestrate and manage AI agents efficiently using Kong's AI Gateway.
Enterprise Architects
Implement scalable and secure service mesh solutions across large organizations.
Less suited for
Small Startups
May find the Plus plan pricing steep for limited API management needs.
Non-technical Users
Requires technical expertise to fully leverage Kong's features.
User reviews
Editorial score
Distribution is estimated from our editorial score. Verified user reviews coming soon.
Use cases
Typical ways teams rely on this tool — from everyday tasks to specialized workflows.
- API gateway
- AI gateway
- LLM proxying
Integrations
Reported connectors
Apps and services commonly connected out of the box or via official connectors.
- AWS Marketplace
- REST
- gRPC
- GraphQL
- Kafka
Details
Category
Price
- Konnect free trial $0 for 30 days
- Plus charged per gateway/month
- Enterprise custom (annual)
Free version
Best for
API and AI gateway teams on Kong Konnect (30-day trial, then Plus per gateway or Enterprise)
Frequently asked questions
Kong
Developer
Ready to get started?
Visit the Kong website to explore plans and start your free trial.
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