Comparison

AWS API Gateway vs Kong Gateway

On the evidence we track, AWS API Gateway leads this comparison with a composite score of 55/100. Scores are only directly comparable because these tools share a category; the full breakdown and every source is below.

AWS API Gateway full profile →Kong Gateway full profile →

Machine formatsJSON Markdown GraphQLor send Accept: application/json

★AWS API Gateway55

Kong Gateway49

Attribute comparison across 2 tools
Attribute	AWS API GatewayLeader	Kong Gateway
Vioscale score	55 / 100low · 41%	49 / 100high · 76%
Pricing
Free tierpricing.free_tier	✓	✓
Modelpricing.model	freemium	commercial
Price levelpricing.price_level	low	low
Transparentpricing.transparent	✓	✗
Integrations
Countintegrations.count	10	11
Security
Disclosure policysecurity.disclosure_policy	✓	✓
Fedrampsecurity.fedramp	✓	-
Gdprsecurity.gdpr	✓	✓
Pcisecurity.pci	✓	✓
Scorecardsecurity.scorecard	-	7.4
Soc2security.soc2	-	✓
Vulnerabilitiessecurity.vulnerabilities	-	Count: 0 · Source: https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=go&package_name=github.com%2FKong%2Fkong&per_page=100 · Last 12m: 0
Reliability
Status pagereliability.status_page	-	✓
Adoption
Dependent reposadoption.dependent_repos	-	1
Github starsadoption.github_stars	-	44,043
Activity
Commits last 30dactivity.commits_last_30d	-	1
Release
Cadence daysrelease.cadence_days	-	29
Historyrelease.history	-	20 items
License
Spdxlicense.spdx	-	Apache-2.0
Language
Primarylanguage.primary	-	Lua
Market
Availabilitymarket.availability	Available worldwide · Popular in US · HQ US	Available worldwide · Popular in US

Score

Vioscale score

AWS API Gateway55 / 100low · 41%

Kong Gateway49 / 100high · 76%

Pricing

Free tier

AWS API Gateway✓

Kong Gateway✓

Model

AWS API Gatewayfreemium

Kong Gatewaycommercial

Price level

AWS API Gatewaylow

Kong Gatewaylow

Transparent

AWS API Gateway✓

Kong Gateway✗

Integrations

Count

AWS API Gateway10

Kong Gateway11

Security

Disclosure policy

AWS API Gateway✓

Kong Gateway✓

Fedramp

AWS API Gateway✓

Kong Gateway–

Gdpr

AWS API Gateway✓

Kong Gateway✓

Pci

AWS API Gateway✓

Kong Gateway✓

Scorecard

AWS API Gateway–

Kong Gateway7.4

Soc2

AWS API Gateway–

Kong Gateway✓

Vulnerabilities

AWS API Gateway–

Kong GatewayCount: 0 · Source: https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=go&package_name=github.com%2FKong%2Fkong&per_page=100 · Last 12m: 0

Reliability

Status page

AWS API Gateway–

Kong Gateway✓

Adoption

Dependent repos

AWS API Gateway–

Kong Gateway1

Github stars

AWS API Gateway–

Kong Gateway44,043

Activity

Commits last 30d

AWS API Gateway–

Kong Gateway1

Release

Cadence days

AWS API Gateway–

Kong Gateway29

History

AWS API Gateway–

Kong Gateway20 items

License

Spdx

AWS API Gateway–

Kong GatewayApache-2.0

Language

Primary

AWS API Gateway–

Kong GatewayLua

Market

Availability

AWS API GatewayAvailable worldwide · Popular in US · HQ US

Kong GatewayAvailable worldwide · Popular in US

Capabilities

Feature-by-feature on the axes that matter for api gateways. “-” means undocumented, not absent.

Capability comparison for API Gateways
Capability	AWS API Gateway	Kong Gateway
Deployment
Hosting	Cloud only	Cloud + self-hosted
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
Insight
Observability	✓	✓

Deployment

Hosting

AWS API GatewayCloud only

Kong GatewayCloud + self-hosted

Kubernetes-native

AWS API Gateway✗

Kong Gateway✓

Traffic

Rate limiting

AWS API Gateway✓

Kong Gateway✓

Request/response transformation

AWS API Gateway✓

Kong Gateway✓

Security

OAuth2 / OIDC / JWT

AWS API Gateway-

Kong Gateway✓

Mutual TLS

AWS API Gateway-

Kong Gateway✓

Protocols

GraphQL gateway

AWS API Gateway✗

Kong Gateway-

gRPC support

AWS API Gateway✗

Kong Gateway-

Delivery

Developer portal

AWS API Gateway✓

Kong Gateway✓

Monetization

AWS API Gateway-

Kong Gateway✓

Ecosystem

Plugin ecosystem

AWS API Gateway-

Kong GatewayExtensive

Insight

Observability

AWS API Gateway✓

Kong Gateway✓

What each one is

The product in its own terms, so the numbers below have context.

AWS API Gateway

Leader

A managed cloud service that handles the complete lifecycle of APIs—from creation and deployment to monitoring and security—including traffic management, authorization, throttling, and version control.

Independently observed

Kong Gateway

Kong provides a unified platform for building, testing, and governing APIs and AI agents. It handles both traditional API gateway functions—routing, rate limiting, authentication—and modern AI-specific concerns like token budgeting, context management, and LLM traffic control. Includes gateway, API management, testing tools, and event streaming capabilities.

Independently observed

Pricing

List pricing as published by each vendor, with the date we read it. Always verify at the source before you buy.

AWS API Gateway

Leader

from $1/moUsage-basedFree tier

Usage-based pricing with no minimum fees or upfront commitments. HTTP APIs: $1.00/million calls; REST APIs: $3.50/million calls; data transfer charges apply. Free tier: 1M API calls per month for 12 months (new AWS customers). $200 free tier credit for new customers as of July 15, 2025.

HTTP APIs1M free calls/month for 12 months; then $1.00/million (first 300M), $0.90/million above 300M
- 1M free API calls per month for 12 months
- Tiered pricing after free tier
- Data transfer out charges apply
REST APIs1M free calls/month for 12 months; then $3.50/million API calls (Edge Optimized/Regional)
- 1M free API calls per month for 12 months
- $3.50 per million for Edge Optimized/Regional APIs
- No data transfer charges for Private APIs (PrivateLink charges apply)
- Optional data caching at hourly rate
WebSocket APIs1M free messages + 750k connection minutes/month for 12 months
- 1M free messages per month for 12 months
- 750k free connection minutes per month for 12 months
- Messages up to 128KB, metered in 32KB increments
- Control frames (ping/pong) not metered
API Gateway PortalsContact sales
- Developer portal hosting
- 10 PortalProducts with 40 REST endpoints each included monthly
- Additional PortalProducts billed separately
- API discovery and documentation
- Centralized governance
- +1 more

as of 2026-08-16verify ↗

Kong Gateway

SubscriptionFree tier

as of 2026-08-14verify ↗

Platform & deployment

Where each product runs and how it can be hosted. A dash means undocumented, not unsupported.

Platform and deployment support comparison
Supports	AWS API Gateway	Kong Gateway
WebPlatforms	✓	✓
CLIPlatforms	✗	✓
Cloud / SaaSDeployment	✓	✓
Self-hostedDeployment	✗	✓
HybridDeployment	✗	✓

Platforms

Web

AWS API Gateway✓

Kong Gateway✓

CLI

AWS API Gateway✗

Kong Gateway✓

Deployment

Cloud / SaaS

AWS API Gateway✓

Kong Gateway✓

Self-hosted

AWS API Gateway✗

Kong Gateway✓

Hybrid

AWS API Gateway✗

Kong Gateway✓

Integrations

What each product connects to. Counts come from the vendor's own integration directory where one exists.

AWS API Gateway

Leader

10 total

AWS Lambda
Amazon CloudFront
Amazon CloudWatch
Amazon DynamoDB
Amazon S3
Amazon EC2
Amazon VPC
AWS PrivateLink
AWS Serverless Application Model
AWS IoT

Independently observed

Kong Gateway

11 total

AWS Bedrock
Azure Content Safety
Google Cloud Model Armor
OpenAI
Anthropic
Llama 3
Kubernetes
Helm
Git
Stripe
Twilio

Independently observed

Comparison generated from independently-sourced facts. Every value links to its source and retrieval date. See the method.