# AWS API Gateway vs Emissary

| Attribute | AWS API Gateway | Emissary |
|---|---|---|
| **Vioscale score** | 54.5 (41% (low)) | 50.2 (54% (medium)) |
| activity.commits_last_30d | - | 31 |
| adoption.dependent_repos | - | 4 |
| adoption.github_stars | - | 4,519 |
| deployment.options | `{"cloud":true}` | `{"self_hosted":true}` |
| description.long | 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. | An open-source, CNCF incubation project providing a Kubernetes-native API gateway with Layer 7 load balancing and ingress capabilities for microservices, built on Envoy Proxy. |
| features.capabilities | `{"hosting":"cloud","k8s_native":false,"grpc_support":false,"observability":true,"rate_limiting":true,"graphql_gateway":false,"developer_portal":true,"request_transformation":true}` | `{"mtls":true,"hosting":"self","k8s_native":true,"grpc_support":true,"observability":true,"rate_limiting":true}` |
| integrations.count | 10 | 7 |
| integrations.list | `[{"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"}]` | `[{"name":"Consul"},{"name":"Linkerd"},{"name":"Istio"},{"name":"Knative"},{"name":"Grafana"},{"name":"Prometheus"},{"name":"Datadog"}]` |
| language.primary | - | Python |
| license.spdx | - | Apache-2.0 |
| market.availability | `{"hqCountry":"US","primaryMarkets":["US"],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` | `{"primaryMarkets":[],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` |
| platform.support | `{"web":true}` | - |
| pricing | `{"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"]}` | `{"type":"open_source","sourceUrl":"https://emissary-ingress.dev/","retrievedAt":"2026-08-14T08:33:38.485Z"}` |
| pricing.free_tier | yes | yes |
| pricing.model | freemium | open_source |
| pricing.price_level | low | free |
| pricing.transparent | yes | yes |
| release.cadence_days | - | 18 |
| release.history | - | `[{"url":"https://github.com/emissary-ingress/emissary/releases/tag/v4.1.0","date":"2026-05-19T21:35:22Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.1.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/emissary-ingress/emissary/releases/tag/v4.1.0-rc.0","date":"2026-05-01T19:56:39Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v4.1.0-rc.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/emissary-ingress/emissary/releases/tag/v4.0.1","date":"2026-03-26T22:54:46Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.0.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/emissary-ingress/emissary/releases/tag/v4.0.1-rc.0","date":"2026-04-30T20:43:30Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v4.0.1-rc.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/emissary-ingress/emissary/releases/tag/v4.0.0-rc.2","date":"2026-03-06T16:28:04Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v4.0.0-rc.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/emissary-ingress/emissary/releases/tag/v4.0.0-rc.1","date":"2025-12-02T19:04:29Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v4.0.0-rc.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/emissary-ingress/emissary/releases/tag/v3.10.0","date":"2025-07-29T17:20:40Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.10.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/emissary-ingress/emissary/releases/tag/v3.9.1","date":"2023-11-20T16:00:55Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.9.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/emissary-ingress/emissary/releases/tag/chart/v8.9.1","date":"2023-11-20T15:59:12Z","type":"stable","version":"chart/v8.9.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/emissary-ingress/emissary/releases/tag/v3.9.0","date":"2023-11-13T12:42:42Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.9.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/emissary-ingress/emissary/releases/tag/chart/v8.9.0","date":"2023-11-13T12:40:29Z","type":"stable","version":"chart/v8.9.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/emissary-ingress/emissary/releases/tag/v3.8.2","date":"2023-10-11T14:11:25Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.8.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/emissary-ingress/emissary/releases/tag/chart/v8.8.2","date":"2023-10-11T14:09:30Z","type":"stable","version":"chart/v8.8.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/emissary-ingress/emissary/releases/tag/v3.8.1","date":"2023-09-18T14:54:43Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.8.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/emissary-ingress/emissary/releases/tag/chart/v8.8.1","date":"2023-09-18T14:53:18Z","type":"stable","version":"chart/v8.8.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/emissary-ingress/emissary/releases/tag/v3.8.0","date":"2023-08-29T12:30:13Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.8.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/emissary-ingress/emissary/releases/tag/chart/v8.8.0","date":"2023-08-29T12:28:24Z","type":"stable","version":"chart/v8.8.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/emissary-ingress/emissary/releases/tag/v3.7.2","date":"2023-07-25T17:22:42Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.7.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/emissary-ingress/emissary/releases/tag/chart/v8.7.2","date":"2023-07-25T17:20:17Z","type":"stable","version":"chart/v8.7.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/emissary-ingress/emissary/releases/tag/v3.7.1","date":"2023-07-13T17:36:17Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.7.1"}]` |
| security.disclosure_policy | yes | - |
| security.fedramp | yes | - |
| security.gdpr | yes | - |
| security.pci | yes | - |
| security.scorecard | - | 5.9 |
| security.vulnerabilities | - | `{"count":0,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=go&package_name=github.com%2Femissary-ingress%2Femissary%2Fv3&per_page=100","last_12m":0,"max_severity":null}` |

## Capabilities (API Gateways)

| Capability | AWS API Gateway | Emissary |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **Deployment** |  |  |
| Hosting | Cloud only | 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 | - | - |
| **Insight** |  |  |
| Observability | ✓ | ✓ |

*Source: Vioscale. Generated 2026-09-01T14:40:57.115Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*