Amazon API Gateway vs Kong

Updated November 2026 · AppBreakup editorial

Amazon API Gateway

AWS's managed service for publishing REST, HTTP and WebSocket APIs in front of AWS backends.

Paid

Visit Amazon API Gateway Amazon API Gateway profile

Kong

Open-source API and AI gateway with a plugin ecosystem and the Konnect cloud management platform.

Open sourceSelf-hostable

Visit Kong Kong profile

The short answer

Amazon API Gateway suits teams building serverless or AWS-hosted backends who want a fully managed gateway billed per call. Kong suits platform teams that want an open-source gateway they can run anywhere, with an optional managed control plane. The biggest difference is lock-in: API Gateway only runs inside AWS, while Kong's Apache-2.0 core runs on Linux, Docker or Kubernetes in any environment.

Amazon API Gateway or Kong: our take

Amazon API Gateway is a managed AWS service with no servers to run. It offers REST APIs with usage plans, API keys, validation and caching, cheaper HTTP APIs for simple proxying, and WebSocket APIs. It plugs straight into Lambda, IAM, Cognito and CloudWatch, which makes it the default front door for serverless apps on AWS. Kong Gateway is an open-source gateway you deploy yourself, in front of services anywhere, and extend through a large plugin library for authentication, rate limiting, transformations and observability.

Pricing works very differently. API Gateway has no minimum fees and charges per call plus data out: $1.00 per million HTTP API calls and $3.50 per million REST API calls at the first volume tier, with a free tier of 1M REST + 1M HTTP calls/month for 12 months for new accounts. Kong's core costs nothing to self-host under Apache-2.0, while Konnect, the hosted control plane, starts from $25/month plus usage after a 30-day trial. Many advanced Kong plugins and the developer portal need a paid licence, and Konnect's usage pricing has many moving parts; API Gateway's costs and configuration also get complex at high volume.

On deployment, API Gateway is region-bound and AWS-only, and it has no polished developer portal out of the box. Kong can be self-hosted, run hybrid with a Kong-hosted control plane, or run fully managed, and Konnect adds a portal, analytics and a service catalog. The cost is that Kong is more to operate than a managed service.

Pick Amazon API Gateway if your backends live on AWS, especially Lambda, and you want pay-per-call pricing with nothing to maintain. Pick Kong if you run across clouds, on premises or on Kubernetes, want to avoid tying your gateway to one provider, or need the flexibility of plugins and your own code.

Choose Amazon API Gateway if…

Teams building serverless or AWS-hosted backends who want pay-per-call APIs with no servers.
No minimum fees; you pay per call and data out
Tight integration with Lambda, IAM and Cognito

Choose Kong if…

Platform teams wanting a battle-tested open-source gateway with an optional managed control plane
You want open-source software
You need to host it on your own servers
You want a free option (Amazon API Gateway is paid only)
You need Linux and Self-hosted, which Amazon API Gateway doesn't list

What is Amazon API Gateway?

Amazon API Gateway is AWS's fully managed service for creating and running APIs. It offers three API types: REST APIs with the fullest feature set (usage plans, API keys, request validation, caching), cheaper and faster HTTP APIs for simpler proxying, and WebSocket APIs for two-way real-time apps. It integrates directly with Lambda, other AWS services and any HTTP backend, and uses IAM, Cognito or custom Lambda authorizers for access control, with logs and metrics in CloudWatch. There are no servers to manage and no minimum fees; you pay per API call received plus data transferred out, with optional paid caching. New accounts get a free tier of one million REST and HTTP calls a month for up to 12 months. It suits teams already building on AWS, especially serverless apps. The trade-offs are that it only runs inside AWS, each API lives in one region, and a developer portal or monetization takes extra work.

What is Kong?

Kong Gateway is one of the most widely deployed API gateways. It runs in front of your services to route traffic and handle authentication, rate limiting, transformations, logging and monitoring, mostly through a large library of plugins that can be extended with your own code. The core gateway is open source under Apache 2.0 and can run on Linux, in Docker or on Kubernetes through its ingress controller. Kong Inc. builds commercial layers on top: Konnect, a hosted control plane with a developer portal, analytics and service catalog, plus enterprise plugins and an AI gateway for governing LLM and MCP traffic. Teams can self-host everything, run hybrid with Kong-hosted control planes, or use fully managed gateways. Konnect has a free trial and usage-based paid plans; enterprise pricing is by quote. It suits platform teams that want a proven gateway with room to grow into full API management.

Side by side

Attribute	Amazon API Gateway	Kong
Pricing	Paid	Open source
Open source	No	Yes
Self-hostable	No	Yes
Platforms	Web	Web, Linux, Self-hosted
Best for	Teams building serverless or AWS-hosted backends who want pay-per-call APIs with no servers.	Platform teams wanting a battle-tested open-source gateway with an optional managed control plane
Status	Active	Active