Ever heard about Kong’s API Gateway and Platform but haven’t made use of it? Kong API Gateway is a popular API gateway and API management product based on lightweight and high-performance software. Kong is known for its scalability and strong community support. Features of Kong API Gateway include API traffic control and rate limiting, Authentication and security controls, and lots more. Here is an opportunity to get acquainted with more information provided by this post, as we provided it regarding Kong API Gateway, elaborating on the features, pricing, reviews, and competitors.
Kong API Gateway
Kong API Gateway is an open-source API gateway and platform that acts as middleware between computing clients and API-centric applications. The Kong API Gateway is known for its scalability, speed, and strong community support. It is available in both open-source and enterprise versions, with the enterprise version offering additional features and support options.
Features of Kong API Gateway
#1. Advanced Routing, Load Balancing, and Health Checking
Kong provides routing and load-balancing capabilities to distribute traffic across multiple services and ensure high availability and performance. It also performs health checks to monitor the status of the services and automatically routes traffic to healthy instances.
#2. Authentication and Security Controls
There are various authentication and security mechanisms that Kong offers, including OAuth2, JWT, Basic Auth, and HMAC Authentication. It also provides plugins for rate limiting, SSL/TLS termination, and IP blocking to secure APIs from unauthorized access and attacks.
#3. API Traffic Control and Rate Limiting
Kong enables fine-grained control over API traffic by limiting requests based on various parameters such as IP address, client ID, or HTTP method. It also supports caching of API responses to improve performance.
#4. Scalability and Performance Monitoring
It is designed to be highly scalable, fast, and flexible, with support for both horizontal scaling and distributed deployments. Kong also provides metrics and analytics to monitor API traffic, performance, and usage.
#5. Customizable Plugins and Extensions
Kong offers a wide range of plugins and extensions to customize and extend its functionality. These plugins can be used to add new features, integrate with third-party services, or enhance security and monitoring.
#6. Support for Multiple Protocols and API Types
Kong supports various protocols and API types, including RESTful APIs, GraphQL, WebSockets, and gRPC. It also provides a flexible plugin architecture to support custom protocols and message formats.
#7. Declarative Configuration and an Admin API for Managing Kong
It also features an API that allows administrators to manage Kong programmatically, reducing the amount of time required for API management tasks to be automated and orchestrated.
#8. Developer Portal for API Documentation and Management
Kong offers a developer portal that allows API providers to publish documentation, manage API keys, and provide interactive API testing tools. This portal can be customized and branded to match the organization’s style and requirements.
#9. Mocking of API Responses Directly on the API Gateway
Kong provides the ability to mock API responses directly on the API gateway, allowing developers to test their APIs without having to deploy them to a separate environment.
#10. GitOps Flow of API Design and Execution
Kong supports GitOps, which is a software development methodology that uses version control to manage the entire software delivery process. With GitOps, API teams can manage their APIs as code and deploy them automatically to Kong.
Kong API Gateway Architecture
Kong API Gateway follows the API Gateway architecture pattern, which aims to centralize and simplify API management by providing a single entry point for all API requests. The API Gateway handles cross-cutting concerns such as authentication, monitoring, logging, traffic control, and security. This allows API providers to focus on their core business logic.
The architecture consists of several components, including:
#1. Proxy Server
The NGINX server acts as a proxy server that receives incoming API requests and forwards them to the appropriate upstream services.
#2. Admin API
The Admin API provides a programmatic interface for managing Kong’s configuration and plugins.
#3. Data Store
Kong uses a data store to persist its configuration and state. It supports various data stores, including Postgres, Cassandra, and Redis.
#4. Plugins
Kong’s plugin architecture allows developers to extend its functionality by adding custom plugins. Plugins can be used to implement authentication, rate limiting, caching, and other features.
#5. Load Balancing and Routing
Kong uses NGINX’s load balancing and routing capabilities to distribute API traffic across multiple upstream services. It supports various load-balancing algorithms, including round-robin, least connections, and IP hash.
#6. Service Discovery
Kong can integrate with service discovery tools like Consul, etcd, and ZooKeeper to automatically discover and register upstream services. This allows Kong to dynamically adapt to changes in the service topology and ensure high availability and reliability.
#7. Data Store
Kong uses a data store to persist its configuration and state. It supports various data stores, including Postgres, Cassandra, and Redis. The data store provides a centralized repository for managing Kong’s configuration, plugins, and runtime state.
#8. Separation of Concerns
Kong separates the concerns of API management into different layers. The proxy layer handles traffic routing and load balancing. The plugin layer handles cross-cutting concerns such as authentication, rate limiting, and caching.
#9. High Availability and Scalability
It is designed for high availability and scalability, with support for horizontal scaling and distributed deployments. It can be deployed in a clustered configuration to ensure fault tolerance and load balancing.
#10. NGINX and OpenResty
Kong is built on top of the NGINX HTTP server, which provides high-performance HTTP and proxying capabilities. The OpenResty framework extends NGINX with support for Lua scripting, which is used to implement Kong’s plugins and custom logic.
Kong API Gateway Pricing
Kong API Gateway offers a range of pricing plans, including a free plan with limited features and an enterprise plan for larger organizations. The pricing for Kong starts at $250 per month, which includes support for up to 3 services and up to 1 million API requests per month. Additional services and API requests can be added for an additional fee of $75 per month per service. Kong also offers custom pricing plans for organizations with larger needs.
Kong Enterprise, the enterprise version of Kong API Gateway, provides additional features and capabilities, including service mesh integration, a developer portal, and visual API analytics. Pricing for Kong Enterprise is not publicly available and varies based on the specific needs of each organization. They also offer a free trial of Kong Enterprise for interested users to test the product before committing to a paid plan.
Kong API Gateway Reviews
Kong API Gateway receives positive reviews for its performance, ease of use, and flexibility. Users appreciate its lightweight architecture, which makes it easy to integrate into existing systems. It also supports a wide range of plugins and load-balancing strategies. Certain advanced features may require an enterprise license, and there may be a learning curve involved in configuring and managing Kong for more complex use cases. It is a popular and well-regarded API gateway solution for microservices architectures.
Kong API Gateway Competitors
Kong API Gateway competitors are other API gateway solutions that offer similar features and functionality to Kong and compete with it for market share. The Kong API Gateway has several competitors in the API management space.
Top Competitors of Kong API
Here are some of the top competitors of Kong:
#1. Amazon API Gateway
Amazon API Gateway is a fully managed service that makes it easy for developers to create, publish, and manage APIs. It supports REST, WebSocket, and HTTP APIs and integrates with other AWS services.
#2. Apogee
Apigee is an enterprise-grade API management platform that allows organizations to design, secure, and scale APIs. It offers features such as analytics, a developer portal, and API monetization.
#3. Azure API Management
Azure API Management is a service that allows developers to publish, secure, and analyze APIs. REST and SOAP APIs are supported and integrated with other Azure services.
#4. Tyk
Tyk is an open-source API management platform that offers an API gateway, analytics, a developer portal, and an API management dashboard. It supports REST, GraphQL, and gRPC APIs.
#5. WebMethods API Gateway
webMethods API Gateway is a comprehensive API management solution that offers features such as an API gateway, a developer portal, and analytics.
#6. Ambassador
Ambassador is an open-source Kubernetes-native API gateway that offers features such as traffic routing, security, and observability. It works with REST, WebSocket, and gRPC APIs.
#7. GraphQL
GraphQL is a query language for APIs that offer a more efficient, powerful, and flexible alternative to REST. It allows developers to fetch data with a single API call.
#8. Mulesoft Anypoint Platform
Mulesoft Anypoint Platform is an API management platform that allows organizations to design, build, and manage APIs. It offers features such as API gateway, developer portal, and analytics, and supports REST, SOAP, and other APIs.
#9. WSO2 API Manager
WSO2 API Manager is an open-source API management platform that offers features such as API gateway, a developer portal, and analytics. REST, SOAP, and other APIs are integrated with other WSO2 products.
#10. IBM API Connect
IBM API Connect is an API management platform that allows organizations to create, manage, and secure APIs. supports REST, SOAP, and other APIs. It also integrates with other IBM products, such as IBM Cloud and IBM Integration Bus.
What Is the Kong API Gateway?
Kong API Gateway is an open-source API management platform that acts as a middleware between computer clients and API-centric applications. It offers features such as an API gateway, a developer portal, analytics, and security, and supports REST, WebSocket, and HTTP APIs. Konga API gateway can be extended through modules and plugins, and it is designed to run on decentralized architectures. It also includes hybrid-cloud and multi-cloud deployments. Developers and software product owners frequently use it to manage, configure, and route requests to APIs because of its high performance and extensibility.
Is The Kong API Gateway Free?
The Kong API Gateway is available for free. The open-source version is called Kong Gateway (OSS), which contains the basic API gateway functionality and open-source plugins. Kong Gateway is available in a Free mode, which adds Kong Manager to the basic open-source functionality.
Kong Gateway also offers Plus and Enterprise modes with added functionality, which require a paid subscription. The pricing for the Plus and Enterprise modes varies based on the features and usage requirements of the organization.
What Is The Role Of The Kong API Gateway In WC?
Kong can be used in various contexts, including e-commerce platforms like WooCommerce. It plays a role in enhancing the API capabilities of a WooCommerce-based online store. Kong API gateway can be employed to manage and secure the APIs used by WooCommerce for various functionalities. Such as product management, inventory, orders, payments, and customer interactions.
What Is The Difference Between Kong And Ambassador API Gateways?
Kong is built on top of the Nginx web server and provides a plugin-based architecture for customizing its functionality. It is designed to be highly performant and scalable and can be deployed in a variety of environments, including cloud, on-premises, and hybrid. It offers features such as rate limiting, authentication, and traffic routing.
Ambassador is designed to be a Kubernetes-native API gateway that leverages the Envoy proxy. It provides a declarative configuration model that allows users to define their API routes and policies using YAML files. It offers features such as rate limiting, authentication, observability, and circuit breaking.
What are The Cons Of The Kong API Gateway?
The cons of Kong API Gateway are its complex setup, Limited native API generation functionality, Additional cost for enterprise features, and Potential performance issues. These downsides should be evaluated in the context of your specific requirements.
Why Is Kong the Best API Gateway?
Different API gateway solutions have their own strengths, weaknesses, and use cases. It’s best to evaluate each solution based on your specific requirements. Such as scalability, security, flexibility, ease of use, and cost, before deciding which one is best for your organization.
Which API Gateway Is Best For Microservices?
There is a wide range of API gateway solutions out there, each with its strengths, weaknesses, and uses. Some popular API gateway solutions for microservices include Kong Gateway, AWS API Gateway, Azure API Gateway, and Spring Cloud Gateway. Evaluate each solution based on your specific requirements before choosing.
Is Kong a Microservice?
Kong is a microservice API gateway and management layer. It provides a flexible abstraction layer that securely manages communication between clients and microservices via API. It is designed to be scalable and extensible, making it a popular choice for microservices architectures.
How Do I Use Kong As An API Gateway?
To use Kong as an API Gateway, you need to install and configure Kong Gateway on your system or cloud platform. Define and add services to Kong that will represent your upstream APIs or microservices. Create routes in Kong that will map incoming requests to the appropriate service. Add plugins to your routes and services to handle authentication, rate limiting, caching, logging, and other functionality. Test your API endpoints using a tool like cURL or Postman to ensure that requests are properly routed and handled.
Is Kong a Load Balancer?
Kong is a load balancer in addition to being an API gateway. It provides load-balancing functionality to distribute API request traffic across multiple upstream services. It also improves the overall system’s responsiveness and scalability. Kong supports various load-balancing strategies such as round-robin, hash-based, and dynamic ring-balancing. It also provides advanced features such as upstream health checking and monitoring.
Conclusion
Kong offers both open-source and enterprise versions of its API gateway. The open-source version is free to use, while the enterprise version comes with additional features and support options. The pricing for the enterprise version of Kong API Gateway is not publicly available and requires contacting the Kong sales team for a quote. Kong API Gateway has generally positive reviews from users and industry experts. Users appreciate Kong’s scalability, ease of use, and strong community support.
Some competitors and alternatives to Kong API Gateway include AWS API Gateway, Microsoft Azure API Management, Apigee API Management Platform, Layer7 API Management, and MuleSoft Anypoint API Manager. These solutions may also include alternatives to Kong that offer similar capabilities for managing, securing, and scaling APIs in microservices architectures. Competitors are often assessed based on determinants such as performance, scalability, convenience of use, flexibility, pricing, and support.
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