Instead of Kong Gateway
Kong Gateway alternatives
Kong Gateway is an open-source gateway for APIs in hybrid and multi-cloud environments, designed for microservices and distributed architectures. It offers API, web UI, or declarative configuration, and can run on premises, in cloud, Kubernetes, or serverless setups. Its plugins handle security, authentication, transformation, and analytics; its Kubernetes controller uses native resources to manage gateway behavior across clusters. Kong describes its NGINX engine as handling 50K+ transactions per second per node. Free options and trials are available, while paid pricing is on request; Windows installation requires Docker rather than a native installer.
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Gravitee API Gateway
Free plan APILinuxSelf-hosted+2Teams needing configurable API policies across varied protocols — Gravitee adds drag-and-drop policy configuration and shared policy groups, with SOAP and Server-sent Events support.
Free plan · paid from $2,500/mo · 14-day trial Visit site - 2
Lago
Free plan Open source APISelf-hostedWebBusinesses billing subscriptions and metered product usage — Lago focuses on usage-based billing, invoices, payments, and AI token metering rather than API gateway traffic management.
Free plan Visit site - 3
Moesif
Free plan APISelf-hostedWebTeams analyzing API consumption and monetization — Moesif adds customer behavior analytics, monitoring, and usage-based billing, while integrating with Kong and other gateways.
Free plan · 14-day trial Visit site - 4
Revenium
Free plan APIWebTeams governing AI costs and workflow returns — Revenium tracks AI spending by team, customer, feature, or agent and ties costs to workflow outcomes.
Free plan · 30-day trial Visit site - 5
Stigg
Free plan APISelf-hostedWebProducts enforcing usage entitlements and credit budgets — Stigg provides entitlement checks, credits, metering, and call-time budget caps, with deployment options including BYOC and BYODB.
Free plan · paid from $399/mo (annual) Visit site - 6
Zuplo
Free plan APILinuxSelf-hosted+1Teams seeking API, AI, and MCP gateway tools — Zuplo combines API, AI, and MCP gateways with a free hosted developer portal and AI-specific protections and budgets.
Free plan · paid from $25/mo Visit site - 7
Apigee API hub
Free plan APIWebTeams cataloging APIs across multiple gateway sources — Apigee API hub catalogs API definitions, versions, deployments, and dependencies across supported sources instead of serving as a gateway.
From $13 · 60-day trial Visit site - 8
Amazon API Gateway
Free plan AndroidAPIiPhone+1 - 9
Apiman
Free plan APILinuxSelf-hosted+1 - 10
Fusio
Free plan APILinuxSelf-hosted+1 - 11
Apache APISIX
Free plan APILinuxSelf-hosted - 12
KrakenD API Gateway
Free plan LinuxMacSelf-hosted+1 - 13
Mintlify
Free plan APILinuxMac+3 - 14
Google Cloud API Gateway
Free plan APIWeb - 15
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Tyk API Management
Free plan APILinuxSelf-hosted+1 - 18
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Stoplight Elements
Free plan Self-hostedWeb - 20
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Gravitee API Management
Free plan LinuxWebWindows - 22
API7 Enterprise
Free trial APILinuxSelf-hosted+1 - 23
Bump.sh
Free trial APISelf-hostedWeb - 24
Sensedia API Management
Free trial APISelf-hostedWeb - 25
Alibaba Cloud API Gateway
Paid Web5.1 Visit site - 26
Kong Konnect
Paid LinuxMacWeb+1 - 27
Google Apigee
Paid Web - 28
Azure API Management
Paid Web - 29
IBM API Connect
Paid Web - 30
Axway Amplify API Management
Paid Web - 31
F5 NGINX App Protect DoS
Paid Linux
A different tool may fit better if the need is less about routing API traffic and more about billing usage, analyzing customers’ API behavior, governing AI costs, or cataloging APIs. Compare whether a product replaces gateway functions or adds a focused capability alongside Kong. Deployment model, supported protocols, identity controls, analytics, usage limits, and developer tools can affect the choice. Also weigh plan costs against expected traffic: Kong’s plans include gateway and request limits at some tiers, while its enterprise options have custom pricing.