# IBM API Connect vs KrakenD

| Attribute | IBM API Connect | KrakenD |
|---|---|---|
| **vioscaleAI score** | 48.5 (40% (low)) | 49.9 (67% (medium)) |
| activity.commits_last_30d | - | 23 |
| adoption.dependent_repos | - | 0 |
| adoption.github_stars | - | 2,691 |
| content.faq | `[{"answer":"An agentic AI-powered API management solution that empowers developers to build and manage APIs more efficiently, with AI-agents assisting in securely scaling API infrastructure across hybrid environments. It is indexed under API Gateways.","source":"https://www.ibm.com/products/api-connect","question":"What is IBM API Connect?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"IBM API Connect offers a free tier, so you can start without paying. Paid plans are also available: Pay-as-You-Go, Standard Tier (SaaS), Premium Tier (SaaS) and Reserved Instance (SaaS). Pricing changes often, so verify at source before relying on it.","source":"https://www.ibm.com/products/api-connect/pricing","question":"Is IBM API Connect free?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. IBM API Connect can be deployed cloud / SaaS, hybrid, on-premise and self-hosted, so it does not have to run on the vendor's infrastructure.","source":"https://www.ibm.com/products/api-connect/pricing","question":"Can IBM API Connect be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6}]` | `[{"answer":"KrakenD is an open-source API gateway offering both a free community edition and a commercial enterprise version. It provides API aggregation, request/response transformation, traffic management, and security features for microservices and AI workload routing. It is indexed under API Gateways.","source":"https://www.krakend.io","question":"What is KrakenD?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"KrakenD is open source, so it can be self-hosted and used at no licence cost. It is released under the Apache-2.0 licence. Paid editions are also offered: Enterprise Edition, priced on request. Pricing changes often, so verify at source before relying on it.","source":"https://www.krakend.io","question":"Is KrakenD free to use?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"KrakenD supports a command-line interface. Platforms we have not confirmed are simply not listed here rather than ruled out.","source":"https://www.krakend.io","question":"What platforms does KrakenD support?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. KrakenD can be deployed cloud / SaaS, hybrid and self-hosted, so it does not have to run on the vendor's infrastructure.","source":"https://www.krakend.io","question":"Can KrakenD be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have confirmed 13 integrations for KrakenD, including REST APIs, RabbitMQ, SNS, SQS, Kafka, GraphQL, gRPC and SOAP, plus 5 more. This is what we could verify from public sources, so the vendor may support others we have not indexed.","source":"https://www.krakend.io","question":"What does KrakenD integrate with?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have independently confirmed SOC 2 and GDPR for KrakenD. Certifications we do not list are ones we have not been able to verify from public sources, which is not the same as KrakenD not holding them. Always confirm compliance directly before you rely on it.","source":"https://www.krakend.io","question":"What security certifications does KrakenD have?","confidence":0.48},{"answer":"Yes. KrakenD 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/krakend/krakend-ce","question":"Is KrakenD open source?","confidence":0.95},{"answer":"KrakenD is available worldwide. The vendor is headquartered in Spain.","source":"https://www.krakend.io","question":"Where is KrakenD available?","confidence":0.75}]` |
| deployment.options | `{"cloud":true,"hybrid":true,"on_prem":true,"self_hosted":true}` | `{"cloud":true,"hybrid":true,"on_prem":true,"self_hosted":true}` |
| description.long | An agentic AI-powered API management solution that empowers developers to build and manage APIs more efficiently, with AI-agents assisting in securely scaling API infrastructure across hybrid environments. | An open-source gateway positioned between client applications and backend services that aggregates, transforms, and secures API traffic across distributed microservice architectures with minimal resource consumption. |
| features.capabilities | `{"hosting":"both","monetization":true,"observability":true,"developer_portal":true}` | `{"mtls":true,"hosting":"both","k8s_native":true,"oauth_oidc":true,"grpc_support":true,"monetization":true,"observability":true,"rate_limiting":true,"graphql_gateway":true,"developer_portal":true,"plugin_ecosystem":"limited","request_transformation":true}` |
| integrations.count | - | 12 |
| integrations.list | - | `[{"name":"REST APIs"},{"name":"RabbitMQ"},{"name":"SNS"},{"name":"SQS"},{"name":"Kafka"},{"name":"GraphQL"},{"name":"gRPC"},{"name":"SOAP"},{"name":"Lambda"},{"name":"NATS"},{"name":"OpenAI"},{"name":"Moesif"},{"name":"Google Analytics"},{"name":"Amazon SNS","category":"messaging"},{"name":"Amazon SQS","category":"messaging"},{"name":"Apache Kafka","category":"messaging"},{"name":"AWS Lambda"},{"name":"Elasticsearch","native":true,"category":"observability","direction":"outbound"},{"name":"Kibana","native":true,"category":"observability","direction":"outbound"},{"name":"Datadog","native":true,"category":"observability","direction":"outbound"},{"name":"Prometheus","native":true,"category":"observability","direction":"outbound"},{"name":"Grafana","native":true,"category":"observability","direction":"outbound"},{"name":"Zipkin","native":true,"category":"observability","direction":"outbound"},{"name":"Jaeger","native":true,"category":"observability","direction":"outbound"}]` |
| language.primary | - | Go |
| license.spdx | - | Apache-2.0 |
| market.availability | `{"primaryMarkets":[],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` | `{"hqCountry":"ES","primaryMarkets":[],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` |
| platform.support | - | `{"linux":true}` |
| pricing | `{"type":"hybrid","plans":[{"free":false,"name":"Pay-as-You-Go","summary":"Usage-based SaaS pricing on AWS","features":["Multi-tenant","1 instance","Unlimited API calls","30 days analytics retention","24x7x365 support","99.9% SLA"],"commitment":"monthly","description":"Usage-based pricing, no upfront costs, cancel at any time, hosted on AWS","contactSales":false,"includedLimits":{"api_calls":"Unlimited","analytics_retention":"30 days"}},{"free":false,"name":"Standard Tier (SaaS)","summary":"Annual SaaS commitment for standard multi-tenant deployment","features":["Multi-tenant","1 instance","100,000+ API calls/year","90 days analytics retention","24x7x365 support","Up to 99.95% SLA"],"commitment":"annual","description":"Annual SaaS subscription, multi-tenant, hosted on AWS","contactSales":false,"includedLimits":{"api_calls_annual":"100,000+","analytics_retention":"90 days"}},{"free":false,"name":"Premium Tier (SaaS)","summary":"Annual SaaS commitment for premium single-tenant deployment","features":["Single-tenant","1-3 instances","100M+ API calls/year","Custom analytics retention","24x7x365 support","Up to 99.95% SLA"],"commitment":"annual","description":"Annual SaaS subscription, single-tenant gateway with advanced capabilities, hosted on AWS","contactSales":false,"includedLimits":{"api_calls_annual":"100M+","analytics_retention":"Custom"}},{"free":false,"name":"Reserved Instance (SaaS)","summary":"Annual SaaS commitment for reserved instance","features":["Single-tenant","Customer-determined instances","120M+ API calls/year","Custom analytics retention","Customer-determined support","Customer-determined SLA"],"commitment":"annual","description":"Annual SaaS subscription, single-tenant with greater isolation and availability, hosted on IBM Cloud","contactSales":true,"includedLimits":{"api_calls_annual":"120M+","analytics_retention":"Custom"}},{"free":false,"name":"Software (Self-Managed)","summary":"Annual self-managed software subscription","features":["On-premises/hybrid/multi-cloud deployment","Customer-determined instances","Customer-determined API call volume","Customer-determined analytics retention","Installation and deployment assistance","Customer-determined SLA"],"commitment":"annual","description":"Self-managed deployment on premises, hybrid cloud, or multi-cloud with IBM Software Subscription & Support, renewed annually","contactSales":true}],"summary":"Pay-as-you-go usage-based, SaaS subscriptions (Standard, Premium, Reserved), or self-managed software. 30-day free trial.","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://www.ibm.com/products/api-connect/pricing","retrievedAt":"2026-08-13T16:52:09.835Z","freeTrialDays":30,"billingPeriods":["month","year"]}` | `{"type":"hybrid","plans":[{"free":true,"name":"Community Edition","description":"High-performance open source API gateway, free to use","contactSales":false},{"free":false,"name":"Enterprise Edition","description":"Production-grade gateway with security, governance, and 24/7 support backed by SLAs","contactSales":true}],"summary":"Free Community Edition; Enterprise Edition available by quote","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://www.krakend.io","retrievedAt":"2026-08-05T13:08:11.806Z"}` |
| pricing.free_tier | yes | yes |
| pricing.model | freemium | freemium |
| pricing.price_level | low | low |
| pricing.transparent | no | yes |
| release.cadence_days | - | 19 |
| release.history | - | `[{"url":"https://github.com/krakend/krakend-ce/releases/tag/v3.0.1","date":"2026-10-13T11:29:56Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.0.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/krakend/krakend-ce/releases/tag/v3.0.0","date":"2026-09-30T14:26:39Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.0.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/krakend/krakend-ce/releases/tag/v2.13.11","date":"2026-09-08T07:59:15Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.13.11"},{"url":"https://github.com/krakend/krakend-ce/releases/tag/v2.13.10","date":"2026-08-20T10:43:44Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.13.10"},{"url":"https://github.com/krakend/krakend-ce/releases/tag/v2.13.9","date":"2026-08-14T11:26:24Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.13.9"},{"url":"https://github.com/krakend/krakend-ce/releases/tag/v2.13.8","date":"2026-07-08T13:47:27Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.13.8"},{"url":"https://github.com/krakend/krakend-ce/releases/tag/v2.13.7","date":"2026-06-03T13:58:16Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.13.7"},{"url":"https://github.com/krakend/krakend-ce/releases/tag/v2.13.6","date":"2026-05-22T10:54:52Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.13.6"},{"url":"https://github.com/krakend/krakend-ce/releases/tag/v2.13.5","date":"2026-05-11T13:11:50Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.13.5"},{"url":"https://github.com/krakend/krakend-ce/releases/tag/v2.13.4","date":"2026-04-08T12:52:49Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.13.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/krakend/krakend-ce/releases/tag/v2.13.3","date":"2026-03-19T12:27:31Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.13.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/krakend/krakend-ce/releases/tag/v2.13.2","date":"2026-03-09T14:36:31Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.13.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/krakend/krakend-ce/releases/tag/v2.13.1","date":"2026-02-18T11:21:11Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.13.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/krakend/krakend-ce/releases/tag/v2.13.0","date":"2026-02-10T14:36:00Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.13.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/krakend/krakend-ce/releases/tag/v2.12.1","date":"2026-01-16T14:57:20Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.12.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/krakend/krakend-ce/releases/tag/v2.12.0","date":"2025-10-27T15:37:13Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.12.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/krakend/krakend-ce/releases/tag/v2.11.2","date":"2025-10-16T13:47:45Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.11.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/krakend/krakend-ce/releases/tag/v2.11.1","date":"2025-10-08T16:03:55Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.11.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/krakend/krakend-ce/releases/tag/v2.11.0","date":"2025-09-09T13:38:44Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.11.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/krakend/krakend-ce/releases/tag/v2.10.2","date":"2025-07-22T16:36:29Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.10.2"}]` |
| reliability.sla_pct | 99.9 | - |
| reliability.status_page | - | yes |
| security.certifications | - | `[{"name":"SOC 2 Type II","status":"active"}]` |
| security.disclosure_policy | yes | - |
| security.gdpr | - | yes |
| security.soc2 | - | yes |
| security.trust_center | - | https://www.krakend.io/docs/security/ |
| security.vulnerabilities | - | `{"count":0,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=go&package_name=github.com%2Fkrakend%2Fkrakend-ce%2Fv2&per_page=100","last_12m":0,"max_severity":null}` |

## Capabilities (API Gateways)

| Capability | IBM API Connect | KrakenD |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **Deployment** |  |  |
| Hosting | Cloud + self-hosted | 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 | - | Limited |
| **Insight** |  |  |
| Observability | ✓ | ✓ |

*Source: vioscaleAI. Generated 2026-10-16T19:18:51.527Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*