3 categories · RankedKong Gateway
Kong Gateway is an API gateway from Kong that load balances traffic across upstream services and includes security features · konghq.com ↗
Leads at mid-market. Ranked 2 of 71 for enterprise buyers.
The standing depends on who is buying. Every model is asked the same questions for each company size.
Zuplo is first at 29%.
Ranked first. Next is Amazon API Gateway at 8%. 12 of 14 models made it the first choice when asked directly.
Apigee is first at 42%.
Why models recommend it
“My top recommendation: If you need a full managed API management platform on a tight budget, Kong Konnect at $25/month offers the best balance of features, reliability, and cost.”DeepSeek V4 Flash · Budget-constrained question · first choice
“Kong (specifically its open-source version or Konnect free tier) is widely regarded as one of the best API management platforms for companies with limited budgets.”Grok 4.20 · Budget-constrained question · first choice
“Most popular open-source gateway, extensive plugin ecosystem, mature community... Choose Kong Gateway (OSS) if: You need a proven, battle-tested solution”GLM 4.7 FlashX · Budget-constrained question · first choice
“Kong is described as "the default self-hosted gateway, with an Apache-2.0 open-source core" and is positioned for cloud-native, Kubernetes environments.”Muse Glimmer 30B · Comparative question · first choice
What gives them pause
“Avoid AWS API Gateway, Kong, and Tyk—none include native monetisation.”Claude Haiku 4.5 · Negative question · warning
“Kong without reviewing licensing and edition boundaries. Its plugin ecosystem is strong, but upgrades and custom plugins can add complexity”Perplexity Sonar · Negative question · warning
“Kong community edition for missing vault/encryption features and for the high number of publicly exposed misconfigured instances”Muse Glimmer 30B · Negative question · warning
“Be cautious if you need strong multi-tenant isolation, a rich AI/analytics feature set, or very low-touch onboarding.”Muse Glimmer 30B · Negative question · warning
Also on the shortlist
The products named in the same answers as Kong Gateway, over the 444 answers that named it, and how often each was the first choice instead.
| Product | Named together | Picked instead | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 347 | 23 | Compare → | |
| 325 | 47 | View → | |
| 278 | 7 | Compare → | |
| 244 | 12 | Compare → | |
| 218 | 10 | View → | |
| 131 | 43 | Compare → | |
| 124 | 6 | Compare → | |
| 97 | 6 | Compare → | |
| 95 | 0 | View → | |
| 82 | 13 | Compare → |
What the models named instead of Kong Gateway →
A side-by-side page exists where both products are among a category's top eight.
At a glance
Stated on Kong Gateway's own site, not checked by Gane.
- For
- users who want to load balance traffic across upstream services
- Free plan or trial
- 無料トライアル(English)
- Certifications
- FIPS 140-2
- Hosting
- AWS, Azure, GCP
- Customers named
- PEXA, Australia Post, Mercedes-Benz, UnitedHealth Group
- Also from Kong
- Kong AI, Kong AI Gateway, Kong API Gateway, Kong CE, Kong Community Edition
How this is measured
Fourteen AI models from 12 labs are asked the same buying questions six ways, for three company sizes. Standings refresh every edition.
Gane sells AI visibility software. No company can pay to change a result.
Read the method →Sources returned with these answers
Fourteen of the fourteen models returned a source list in this edition: five return the pages they cited and nine the search results they consulted. These counts come from 359 of the 444 answers that named Kong Gateway and are not a share of its labels.
Domains cited
785 of the 937 domain citations in answers naming Kong Gateway came from a third party's page. Sixty-two were to the publisher's own pages (the Gane Index), which the models cite like any other source; they are not counted as a third party.
Pages cited
Pages are listed as the models cited them.
By model
| Model | First choice | Alternative | Mention | Warning | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Haiku 4.5 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 10 |
| GPT-5.4 mini | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 8 |
| Gemini 3.5 Flash | 7 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 13 |
| Perplexity Sonar | 4 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 11 |
| Grok 4.20 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 13 |
| Mistral Small | 5 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 14 |
| DeepSeek V4 Flash | 9 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 15 |
| Llama 4 Maverick | 5 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 11 |
| Qwen 3.7 Flash | 8 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 15 |
| Kimi K2 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 15 |
| GLM 4.7 FlashX | 6 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 11 |
| MiniMax M2.5 | 8 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 12 |
| GPT-6 Luna | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 6 |
| Muse Glimmer 30B | 8 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 14 |