vioscale
Comparison

Kong Gateway vs WSO2 API Manager

No leader: the top candidate WSO2 API Manager has only 0.33 confidence (low), below the 0.35 needed to declare a winner. The attribute-by-attribute breakdown below, with a source and date on every value, is the honest way to compare them.

Kong Gateway full profile →WSO2 API Manager full profile →
Machine formatsJSONMarkdownGraphQLor send Accept: application/json
Kong Gateway49
WSO2 API Manager94
Score
Vioscale score
Kong Gateway49 / 100high · 76%
WSO2 API Manager94 / 100low · 33%
Pricing
Free tier
Kong Gateway✓
WSO2 API Manager✓
Model
Kong Gatewaycommercial
WSO2 API Manageropen_source
Price level
Kong Gatewaylow
WSO2 API Managerfree
Transparent
Kong Gateway✗
WSO2 API Manager✓
Integrations
Count
Kong Gateway11
WSO2 API Manager600
Security
Disclosure policy
Kong Gateway✓
WSO2 API Manager✓
Gdpr
Kong Gateway✓
WSO2 API Manager✓
Hipaa
Kong Gateway–
WSO2 API Manager✓
Iso27001
Kong Gateway–
WSO2 API Manager✓
Pci
Kong Gateway✓
WSO2 API Manager✓
Scorecard
Kong Gateway7.4
WSO2 API Manager–
Soc2
Kong Gateway✓
WSO2 API Manager✓
Vulnerabilities
Reliability
Status page
Kong Gateway✓
WSO2 API Manager✓
Adoption
Dependent repos
Kong Gateway1
WSO2 API Manager–
Github stars
Kong Gateway44,043
WSO2 API Manager–
Activity
Commits last 30d
Kong Gateway1
WSO2 API Manager–
Release
Cadence days
Kong Gateway29
WSO2 API Manager–
History
Kong Gateway20 items
WSO2 API Manager–
License
Spdx
Kong GatewayApache-2.0
WSO2 API Manager–
Language
Primary
Kong GatewayLua
WSO2 API Manager–
Market
Availability

Capabilities

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

Deployment
Hosting
Kong GatewayCloud + self-hosted
WSO2 API ManagerCloud + self-hosted
Kubernetes-native
Kong Gateway✓
WSO2 API Manager✓
Traffic
Rate limiting
Kong Gateway✓
WSO2 API Manager✓
Request/response transformation
Kong Gateway✓
WSO2 API Manager✓
Security
OAuth2 / OIDC / JWT
Kong Gateway✓
WSO2 API Manager-
Mutual TLS
Kong Gateway✓
WSO2 API Manager-
Protocols
GraphQL gateway
Kong Gateway-
WSO2 API Manager✓
gRPC support
Kong Gateway-
WSO2 API Manager✓
Delivery
Developer portal
Kong Gateway✓
WSO2 API Manager✓
Monetization
Kong Gateway✓
WSO2 API Manager✓
Ecosystem
Plugin ecosystem
Kong GatewayExtensive
WSO2 API ManagerExtensive
Insight
Observability
Kong Gateway✓
WSO2 API Manager✓

What each one is

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

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

WSO2 API Manager

A gateway platform that centralizes management of APIs and AI model traffic across cloud and self-hosted environments, with built-in cost controls, security policies, and monetization 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.

Kong Gateway

SubscriptionFree tier
as of verify ↗

WSO2 API Manager

Open sourceFree tier

Free and open source. No per-gateway fees or usage caps.

  • Self-HostedFree
    • Full lifecycle API management
    • Design and publish REST, GraphQL, WebSocket, Webhook APIs
    • Developer portal with try-it console
    • Multi-gateway support
    • Kubernetes and Docker deployment
    • +5 more
as of verify ↗

Platform & deployment

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

Platforms
Web
Kong Gateway✓
WSO2 API Manager✓
CLI
Kong Gateway✓
WSO2 API Manager✓
Deployment
Cloud / SaaS
Kong Gateway✓
WSO2 API Manager✓
Self-hosted
Kong Gateway✓
WSO2 API Manager✓
Hybrid
Kong Gateway✓
WSO2 API Manager✓

Integrations

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

In common (4)
  • AWS Bedrock
  • Azure Content Safety
  • OpenAI
  • Anthropic

Kong Gateway

11 total - 7 not shared
  • Google Cloud Model Armor
  • Llama 3
  • Kubernetes
  • Helm
  • Git
  • Stripe
  • Twilio
Independently observed

WSO2 API Manager

11 total - 7 not shared
  • Azure OpenAI
  • Google Gemini
  • Mistral
  • AWS Bedrock Guardrails
  • Moesif
  • Azure AI
  • Mistral AI
Independently observed

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