# Apache APISIX vs AWS API Gateway

| Attribute | Apache APISIX | AWS API Gateway |
|---|---|---|
| **Vioscale score** | 55.7 (54% (medium)) | 54.5 (41% (low)) |
| activity.commits_last_30d | 61 | - |
| adoption.dependent_repos | 1 | - |
| adoption.github_stars | 17,037 | - |
| deployment.options | `{"cloud":true,"self_hosted":true}` | `{"cloud":true}` |
| description.long | 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. | 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. |
| 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":false,"openai_compatible_api":false,"request_transformation":true}` | `{"hosting":"cloud","k8s_native":false,"grpc_support":false,"observability":true,"rate_limiting":true,"graphql_gateway":false,"developer_portal":true,"request_transformation":true}` |
| integrations.count | 13 | 10 |
| 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":"AWS Lambda"},{"name":"Amazon CloudFront"},{"name":"Amazon CloudWatch"},{"name":"Amazon DynamoDB"},{"name":"Amazon S3"},{"name":"Amazon EC2"},{"name":"Amazon VPC"},{"name":"AWS PrivateLink"},{"name":"AWS Serverless Application Model"},{"name":"AWS IoT"}]` |
| language.primary | Lua | - |
| license.spdx | Apache-2.0 | - |
| market.availability | - | `{"hqCountry":"US","primaryMarkets":["US"],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` |
| platform.support | `{"cli":true,"linux":true}` | `{"web":true}` |
| pricing | `{"type":"open_source","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://apisix.apache.org","retrievedAt":"2026-08-13T16:52:04.945Z"}` | `{"type":"usage","plans":[{"free":false,"name":"HTTP APIs","summary":"1M free calls/month for 12 months; then $1.00/million (first 300M), $0.90/million above 300M","features":["1M free API calls per month for 12 months","Tiered pricing after free tier","Data transfer out charges apply"],"components":[{"per":{"qty":1000000,"unit":"requests"},"kind":"metered","amount":1,"currency":"USD"}],"description":"Pay per API call and data transfer out","contactSales":false,"includedLimits":{"free_tier_http_api_calls_per_month":"1M for 12 months (new AWS customers)"}},{"free":false,"name":"REST APIs","summary":"1M free calls/month for 12 months; then $3.50/million API calls (Edge Optimized/Regional)","features":["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"],"components":[{"per":{"qty":1000000,"unit":"requests"},"kind":"metered","amount":3.5,"currency":"USD"}],"description":"Pay per API call, data transfer, and optional caching","contactSales":false,"includedLimits":{"free_tier_rest_api_calls_per_month":"1M for 12 months (new AWS customers)"}},{"free":false,"name":"WebSocket APIs","summary":"1M free messages + 750k connection minutes/month for 12 months","features":["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"],"description":"Pay for messages sent/received and connection minutes","contactSales":false,"includedLimits":{"free_tier_messages_per_month":"1M for 12 months (new AWS customers)","free_tier_connection_minutes_per_month":"750000 for 12 months (new AWS customers)"}},{"free":false,"name":"API Gateway Portals","summary":"Monthly charge includes 10 PortalProducts with 40 REST endpoints each; additional PortalProducts billed separately","features":["Developer portal hosting","10 PortalProducts with 40 REST endpoints each included monthly","Additional PortalProducts billed separately","API discovery and documentation","Centralized governance","Prorated monthly charges"],"description":"Managed developer portals for API discovery and governance","contactSales":true,"includedLimits":{"portal_products":"10 per month","product_rest_endpoints":"40 per product"}}],"summary":"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.","currency":"USD","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://aws.amazon.com/api-gateway/pricing/","retrievedAt":"2026-08-16T20:53:52.220Z","startingPrice":{"amount":1,"period":"month","currency":"USD"},"billingPeriods":["month"]}` |
| pricing.free_tier | yes | yes |
| pricing.model | open_source | freemium |
| pricing.price_level | free | low |
| pricing.transparent | yes | yes |
| release.cadence_days | 61 | - |
| release.history | `[{"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"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/apisix/releases/tag/3.4.0","date":"2023-06-30T12:07:12Z","type":"stable","version":"3.4.0"}]` | - |
| security.disclosure_policy | yes | yes |
| security.fedramp | - | yes |
| security.gdpr | - | yes |
| security.pci | - | yes |
| security.scorecard | 7.5 | - |
| 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 | AWS API Gateway |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **Deployment** |  |  |
| Hosting | Cloud + self-hosted | Cloud 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 | - |
| **Insight** |  |  |
| Observability | ✓ | ✓ |

*Source: Vioscale. Generated 2026-09-01T15:11:55.804Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*