HOME / SAAS / TOP 10 API MANAGEMENT TOOLS / KONG

Kong

Cloud-native API gateway and connectivity platform

RANKED #1 · TOP 10 API MANAGEMENT TOOLSLISTERSCORE 95.0

A cloud-native API gateway and management platform built on NGINX, known for its high performance and extensive plugin ecosystem.

Pricing from	Custom
Best for	Microservices and high-throughput environments
Website	konghq.com

Company facts

Social profiles	LinkedIn, X, Instagram, YouTube, GitHub
Brand colour	#cdd4cb

Facilities and features

Published pricing
API
Mobile app

What stands out

The AI tool unifies management of all API and AI traffic in one workspace.

“## Build, run, discover, govern, and monetize all AI traffic – in one platform”Kong, own website

The AI tool allows teams to define entitlements and bill against agent context consumption.

“the agent to the LLM to the MCP server to MCP tools.”Kong, own website

Worth knowing

Kong charges extra fees for transaction volumes exceeding the included monthly limit.

“Cost per additional 1 million requests per month $200/month per additional 1 million requests/month”Kong, own website

Strengths and trade-offs

Extremely low latency and high throughput
Extensive library of plugins for customisation

Advanced enterprise features require paid tiers
Configuration can be complex at scale

Appears in

AIVERIFIED

How Kong ranks

#9 in LLM gateways for enterprises

How the score is made up: Evidence on its own site 20; How complete its published information is 16; Fit to this ranking's criteria 40; Buying information on its own site 12.

“Secure, manage, speed up, monetize, and cost-control every LLM, MCP, event, and API request.”Kong, own website

“Enterprise Custom billed annually Scale AI programs past pilots.”Kong, own website

#7 in LLM gateways for startups

How the score is made up: Evidence on its own site 20; How complete its published information is 16; Fit to this ranking's criteria 40; Buying information on its own site 12.

“Secure, manage, speed up, monetize, and cost-control every LLM, MCP, event, and API request.”Kong, own website

“NEW Kong for Startups Apply for $100k credits & 50% off AI Gateway”Kong, own website

#5 in LLM gateways with a free trial

How the score is made up: Evidence on its own site 20; How complete its published information is 16; Fit to this ranking's criteria 40; Buying information on its own site 12.

“Secure, manage, speed up, monetize, and cost-control every LLM, MCP, event, and API request.”Kong, own website

“[ Start for Free ] ( /products/kong-konnect/register ) Start for Free 30-Day Free Trial | no credit card required”Kong, own website

#4 in Open-source API testing tools

How the score is made up: Evidence on its own site 20; How complete its published information is 18; Fit to this ranking's criteria 40; Buying information on its own site 12.

“[ Insomnia ] ( https://insomnia.rest/ ) Insomnia [ Plugins ] ( https://developer.konghq.com/plugins/ ) Plugins [ Volcano ] ( https://volcano.dev/ ) Volcano [ Kong MCP”Kong, own website

“[ Documentation ] ( https://docs.konghq.com/ ) Documentation [ Open Source ] ( /community ) Open Source”Kong, own website

#3 in Self-hosted LLM gateways

How the score is made up: Evidence on its own site 20; How complete its published information is 16; Fit to this ranking's criteria 40; Buying information on its own site 12.

“Secure, manage, speed up, monetize, and cost-control every LLM, MCP, event, and API request.”Kong, own website

“Fully self-hosted AI gateways (where both the control plane and the data plane are hosted locally are available as a part of our separate Gateway Enterprise offering.”Kong, own website

Alternatives to Kong

AWS API Gateway Build, deploy and manage APIs at any scale	#2 in Top 10 API Management Tools	92.7
Apigee Full lifecycle API management by Google Cloud	#3 in Top 10 API Management Tools	90.3
MuleSoft API-led connectivity platform for enterprise integration	#4 in Top 10 API Management Tools	88.0
Tyk Open-source API gateway and management	#5 in Top 10 API Management Tools	85.7
Azure API Management Hybrid, multi-cloud management for APIs	#6 in Top 10 API Management Tools	83.3
Traefik Modern, open-source API gateway and reverse proxy for cloud-native applications	#7 in Top 10 API Management Tools	81.0

Questions about Kong

How much does Kong cost?

Lister lists Kong's pricing as: Custom.

Who is Kong best for?

Kong is best for microservices and high-throughput environments.

Where does Kong rank?

Kong is ranked #1 in Top 10 API Management Tools (Lister Score 95.0), #2 in Top 10 API Management (Lister Score 92.7), #2 in Top 10 API Management Platforms (Lister Score 92.7), #3 in Self-hosted LLM gateways (Lister Score 88.0), #4 in Open-source API testing tools (Lister Score 90.0), #5 in LLM gateways with a free trial (Lister Score 88.0), #7 in LLM gateways for startups (Lister Score 88.0) and #9 in LLM gateways for enterprises (Lister Score 88.0).

What are the best alternatives to Kong?

The closest alternatives on Lister are AWS API Gateway (#2 in Top 10 API Management Tools), Apigee (#3 in Top 10 API Management Tools) and MuleSoft (#4 in Top 10 API Management Tools).

Is this your company?

Claim Kong to suggest corrections to its listing (pricing, features, details) or ask about an enhanced profile. We review every claim before anything changes.