# IBM API Connect vs KrakenD

| Attribute | IBM API Connect | KrakenD |
|---|---|---|
| **Vioscale score** | 47.8 (40% (low)) | 51.9 (76% (high)) |
| activity.commits_last_30d | - | 9 |
| adoption.dependent_repos | - | 0 |
| adoption.github_stars | - | 2,668 |
| deployment.options | `{"cloud":true,"hybrid":true,"on_prem":true,"self_hosted":true}` | `{"cloud":true,"hybrid":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. | 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. |
| features.capabilities | `{"hosting":"both","monetization":true,"observability":true,"developer_portal":true}` | `{"mtls":true,"hosting":"both","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 | - | 13 |
| 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"}]` |
| language.primary | - | Go |
| license.spdx | - | Apache-2.0 |
| market.availability | `{"primaryMarkets":[],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` | `{"hqCountry":"ES","primaryMarkets":[],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` |
| platform.support | - | `{"cli":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 | commercial |
| pricing.price_level | low | low |
| pricing.transparent | no | yes |
| release.cadence_days | - | 24 |
| release.history | - | `[{"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"},{"url":"https://github.com/krakend/krakend-ce/releases/tag/v2.10.1","date":"2025-06-19T14:51:09Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.10.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/krakend/krakend-ce/releases/tag/v2.10.0","date":"2025-05-06T10:44:15Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.10.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/krakend/krakend-ce/releases/tag/v2.9.4","date":"2025-04-10T14:12:36Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.9.4"}]` |
| reliability.sla_pct | 99.9 | - |
| reliability.status_page | - | yes |
| security.disclosure_policy | yes | - |
| security.gdpr | - | yes |
| security.soc2 | - | yes |
| security.vulnerabilities | - | `{"count":0,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=go&package_name=github.com%2Fkrakend%2Fkrakend-ce%2Fv3&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: Vioscale. Generated 2026-09-01T15:18:54.841Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*