# Apache APISIX vs Gloo Gateway

**Leader by vioscaleAI score:** Apache APISIX

| Attribute | Apache APISIX | Gloo Gateway |
|---|---|---|
| **vioscaleAI score** | 54.2 (53% (medium)) | 48.3 (32% (low)) |
| activity.commits_last_30d | 67 | - |
| adoption.dependent_repos | 1 | - |
| adoption.github_stars | 17,220 | - |
| content.faq | `[{"answer":"A dynamic, high-performance gateway that routes and secures API traffic with built-in plugins for authentication, rate limiting, and observability. Runs anywhere from bare metal to Kubernetes with no vendor lock-in. It is indexed under API Gateways.","source":"https://apisix.apache.org","question":"What is Apache APISIX?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Apache APISIX is open source, so it can be self-hosted and used at no licence cost. It is released under the Apache-2.0 licence. Pricing changes often, so verify at source before relying on it.","source":"https://apisix.apache.org","question":"Is Apache APISIX free to use?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Apache APISIX supports Linux and a command-line interface. Platforms we have not confirmed are simply not listed here rather than ruled out.","source":"https://apisix.apache.org","question":"What platforms does Apache APISIX support?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. Apache APISIX can be deployed cloud / SaaS and self-hosted, so it does not have to run on the vendor's infrastructure.","source":"https://apisix.apache.org","question":"Can Apache APISIX be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have confirmed 20 integrations for Apache APISIX, including OpenAI, Anthropic, AWS Bedrock, DeepSeek, Ollama, gRPC, Open Policy Agent and Spring Boot, plus 12 more. This is what we could verify from public sources, so the vendor may support others we have not indexed.","source":"https://apisix.apache.org","question":"What does Apache APISIX integrate with?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. Apache APISIX is published under the Apache-2.0 licence, a permissive licence that generally allows commercial use and modification. Licence terms can change between releases, so verify against the repository for the version you intend to use.","source":"https://github.com/apache/apisix","question":"Is Apache APISIX open source?","confidence":0.95}]` | `[{"answer":"Gloo Gateway functions as a centralized controller for API traffic in microservices architectures, handling authentication, observability, routing, and security governance across Kubernetes-based systems. It is indexed under API Gateways.","source":"https://www.solo.io/products/gloo-gateway/","question":"What is Gloo Gateway?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Gloo Gateway does not publish its prices. Pricing is quoted on request, across 2 plans (Open Source and Solo Enterprise), so the figure depends on your seat count and requirements. We record this as a pricing-transparency signal rather than guessing a number. Pricing changes often, so verify at source before relying on it.","source":"https://www.solo.io/pricing","question":"How much does Gloo Gateway cost?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Gloo Gateway supports Linux and a command-line interface. Platforms we have not confirmed are simply not listed here rather than ruled out.","source":"https://www.solo.io/products/gloo-gateway/","question":"What platforms does Gloo Gateway support?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. Gloo Gateway can be deployed cloud / SaaS and self-hosted, so it does not have to run on the vendor's infrastructure.","source":"https://www.solo.io/products/gloo-gateway/","question":"Can Gloo Gateway be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have confirmed 5 integrations for Gloo Gateway, including MCP, Istio, Kubernetes Gateway API, Backstage and LLMs. This is what we could verify from public sources, so the vendor may support others we have not indexed.","source":"https://www.solo.io/products/gloo-gateway/","question":"What does Gloo Gateway integrate with?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have independently confirmed SOC 2 for Gloo Gateway. Certifications we do not list are ones we have not been able to verify from public sources, which is not the same as Gloo Gateway not holding them. Always confirm compliance directly before you rely on it.","source":"https://trust.solo.io","question":"What security certifications does Gloo Gateway have?","confidence":0.7}]` |
| deployment.options | `{"on_prem":true,"self_hosted":true}` | `{"cloud":true,"hybrid":true,"self_hosted":true}` |
| description.long | Open-source software that manages and routes traffic to APIs and AI services. Designed for flexible deployment on your own infrastructure with extensive customization through plugins. | A cloud-native API gateway built on Envoy that enables organizations to route, transform, and secure API traffic across multiple protocols. It provides enterprise security controls, developer portals for API discovery, and monetization capabilities for managing APIs as revenue-generating assets. |
| features.capabilities | `{"mtls":true,"hosting":"both","k8s_native":true,"oauth_oidc":true,"open_source":true,"grpc_support":true,"monetization":true,"observability":true,"pricing_model":"open-source-self-host","rate_limiting":true,"graphql_gateway":false,"deployment_model":"self-hosted","developer_portal":true,"plugin_ecosystem":"extensive","routing_strategy":"custom","streaming_support":true,"automatic_failover":true,"budget_spend_controls":true,"guardrails_moderation":"built-in","openai_compatible_api":true,"request_transformation":true}` | `{"mtls":true,"hosting":"self","k8s_native":true,"oauth_oidc":true,"grpc_support":true,"monetization":true,"observability":true,"graphql_gateway":true,"developer_portal":true,"plugin_ecosystem":"limited","request_transformation":true}` |
| integrations.count | 11 | 9 |
| integrations.list | `[{"name":"OpenAI"},{"name":"Anthropic"},{"name":"AWS Bedrock"},{"name":"DeepSeek"},{"name":"Ollama"},{"name":"gRPC"},{"name":"gRPC-Web"},{"name":"Open Policy Agent"},{"name":"Spring Boot"},{"name":"OAuth2"},{"name":"OpenID Connect"},{"name":"Keycloak"},{"name":"Istio"},{"name":"Kuma"},{"name":"AWS Lambda"},{"name":"Azure Serverless Function"},{"name":"Apache OpenWhisk"},{"name":"Vault"},{"name":"Dubbo"},{"name":"MQTT"},{"name":"etcd"},{"name":"OpenTelemetry","category":"observability"},{"name":"ClickHouse","category":"analytics"},{"name":"Google Cloud","category":"cloud"},{"name":"Kubernetes","category":"infrastructure"},{"name":"Azure Functions","native":true,"category":"cloud","direction":"bidirectional"},{"name":"Prometheus","native":true,"category":"monitoring","direction":"outbound"},{"name":"HashiCorp Vault","native":true,"category":"security","direction":"outbound"}]` | `[{"name":"MCP","native":true,"direction":"bidirectional"},{"name":"Istio","native":true,"category":"service mesh","direction":"bidirectional"},{"name":"Kubernetes Gateway API","native":true,"direction":"bidirectional"},{"name":"Backstage","native":false,"category":"devops"},{"name":"LLMs","native":true,"category":"ai","direction":"outbound"},{"name":"Kubernetes","native":true,"category":"infrastructure","direction":"bidirectional"},{"name":"AWS Lambda","category":"serverless","direction":"outbound"},{"name":"AWS EKS","category":"infrastructure","direction":"bidirectional"},{"name":"AWS API Gateway","category":"api-gateway","direction":"bidirectional"},{"name":"OpenAPI","category":"documentation","direction":"inbound"},{"name":"OAuth 2.0","native":true,"category":"auth"},{"name":"OIDC","native":true,"category":"auth"},{"name":"JWT","native":true,"category":"auth"}]` |
| language.primary | Lua | - |
| license.spdx | Apache-2.0 | - |
| platform.support | `{"cli":true,"web":true,"linux":true}` | `{"cli":true,"linux":true}` |
| pricing | `{"type":"open_source","sourceUrl":"https://apisix.apache.org","retrievedAt":"2026-10-14T22:32:08.030Z"}` | `{"type":"hybrid","plans":[{"free":true,"name":"Open Source","summary":"Free, perpetual license","features":["Request routing by path, header, method, query parameter, host","Kubernetes Gateway API support","Traffic splitting and transformation","Multi-protocol support: REST, gRPC, GraphQL, WebSocket","Active community with regular releases"],"contactSales":false},{"free":false,"name":"Solo Enterprise","summary":"Contact sales for pricing","features":["24x7 Support SLA with guaranteed response times","N-3 Long Term Support with security patches and bug fixes","FIPS Compliant Images","Private Slack Channel with white-glove support"],"contactSales":true}],"summary":"Free open source forever. Enterprise support available.","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://www.solo.io/pricing","retrievedAt":"2026-08-13T17:04:52.281Z"}` |
| pricing.free_tier | yes | yes |
| pricing.model | open_source | quote |
| pricing.price_level | free | unknown |
| pricing.transparent | yes | no |
| release.cadence_days | 61 | - |
| release.history | `[{"url":"https://github.com/apache/apisix/releases/tag/3.19.0","date":"2026-09-28T05:13:59Z","type":"stable","version":"3.19.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/apisix/releases/tag/3.18.0","date":"2026-08-20T07:57:26Z","type":"stable","version":"3.18.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/apisix/releases/tag/3.17.0","date":"2026-06-16T07:22:13Z","type":"stable","version":"3.17.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/apisix/releases/tag/3.16.0","date":"2026-04-08T01:36:55Z","type":"stable","version":"3.16.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/apisix/releases/tag/3.15.0","date":"2026-02-05T13:55:04Z","type":"stable","version":"3.15.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/apisix/releases/tag/3.14.1","date":"2025-10-16T07:54:57Z","type":"stable","version":"3.14.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/apisix/releases/tag/3.14.0","date":"2025-10-10T05:53:01Z","type":"stable","version":"3.14.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/apisix/releases/tag/3.13.0","date":"2025-06-27T07:28:29Z","type":"stable","version":"3.13.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/apisix/releases/tag/3.12.0","date":"2025-04-01T07:27:27Z","type":"stable","version":"3.12.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/apisix/releases/tag/3.11.0","date":"2024-10-17T03:20:22Z","type":"stable","version":"3.11.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/apisix/releases/tag/3.10.0","date":"2024-08-14T06:16:05Z","type":"stable","version":"3.10.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/apisix/releases/tag/3.9.1","date":"2024-04-24T07:56:23Z","type":"stable","version":"3.9.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/apisix/releases/tag/3.8.1","date":"2024-04-29T03:06:26Z","type":"stable","version":"3.8.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/apisix/releases/tag/3.9.0","date":"2024-03-25T10:09:53Z","type":"stable","version":"3.9.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/apisix/releases/tag/3.8.0","date":"2024-01-15T03:35:34Z","type":"stable","version":"3.8.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/apisix/releases/tag/3.7.0","date":"2023-11-21T00:57:26Z","type":"stable","version":"3.7.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/apisix/releases/tag/3.6.0","date":"2023-10-04T06:40:49Z","type":"stable","version":"3.6.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/apisix/releases/tag/3.5.0","date":"2023-09-01T15:55:01Z","type":"stable","version":"3.5.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/apisix/releases/tag/3.2.2","date":"2023-07-22T16:32:15Z","type":"stable","version":"3.2.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/apisix/releases/tag/3.4.1","date":"2023-07-20T09:42:19Z","type":"stable","version":"3.4.1"}]` | - |
| security.certifications | - | `[{"name":"FedRAMP","status":"in_progress"}]` |
| security.disclosure_policy | yes | yes |
| security.fedramp | - | yes |
| security.scorecard | 7.2 | - |
| security.soc2 | - | yes |
| security.trust_center | https://apisix.apache.org/blog/2023/03/02/security-policy-auditable/ | https://www.solo.io/blog/compliance-zero-trust-istio-ambient-mesh |
| security.vulnerabilities | `{"count":0,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=go&package_name=github.com%2Fapache%2Fapisix&per_page=100","last_12m":0,"max_severity":null}` | - |

## Capabilities (API Gateways)

| Capability | Apache APISIX | Gloo Gateway |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **Deployment** |  |  |
| Hosting | Cloud + self-hosted | Self-hosted only |
| Kubernetes-native | ✓ | ✓ |
| **Traffic** |  |  |
| Rate limiting | ✓ | - |
| Request/response transformation | ✓ | ✓ |
| **Security** |  |  |
| OAuth2 / OIDC / JWT | ✓ | ✓ |
| Mutual TLS | ✓ | ✓ |
| **Protocols** |  |  |
| GraphQL gateway | ✗ | ✓ |
| gRPC support | ✓ | ✓ |
| **Delivery** |  |  |
| Developer portal | ✓ | ✓ |
| Monetization | ✓ | ✓ |
| **Ecosystem** |  |  |
| Plugin ecosystem | Extensive | Limited |
| **Insight** |  |  |
| Observability | ✓ | ✓ |

*Source: vioscaleAI. Generated 2026-10-16T18:32:03.760Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*
