Kong
by Kong Inc. · API Management
Cloud-native API gateway and AI connectivity platform, from open-source Kong Gateway to Kong Konnect SaaS.
Updated August 2026 · By the ERP Research Editorial Team · Independent and vendor-neutral.
- Deployment
- Cloud, On-premise, Hybrid
- Company size
- SMB, Enterprise
- Pricing
- Free open-source tier plus tiered Konnect SaaS subscriptions and custom Enterprise pricing
- Founded
- 2009
- Headquarters
- San Francisco, California, United States
Overview
Kong is an API gateway and connectivity company that provides Kong Gateway, an open-source and enterprise API gateway built on NGINX and OpenResty, alongside Kong Konnect, a SaaS control plane for managing API and AI traffic across gateways. The company originated as Mashape, founded in 2009 in Milan, Italy, and rebranded to Kong in 2017; it is headquartered in San Francisco, California and remains privately held, having raised a Series E round that valued the company at 2 billion dollars, with investors including Andreessen Horowitz, Index Ventures, CRV, Goldman Sachs and Tiger Global.
Kong Gateway handles routing, authentication, rate limiting, traffic control and observability for API requests, extensible through a plugin architecture. The open-source Community tier includes Basic Auth, HMAC, JWT and a limited OAuth2 implementation; the Enterprise tier adds OpenID Connect, SAML 2.0, HashiCorp Vault integration, Open Policy Agent authorization and FIPS 140-2 compliant data planes. It supports REST, gRPC, GraphQL, WebSocket, UDP, SOAP and Kafka protocols, and deploys on-premises, in Kubernetes via a native Ingress Controller, in hybrid mode, or fully managed through Kong Konnect.
Kong Konnect adds a hosted control plane, developer portal, API service catalog and usage-based billing on top of Kong Gateway, and has more recently added an AI Gateway product line for managing LLM and AI-agent traffic, including token budgeting, semantic caching and multi-provider routing. Kong markets itself broadly as an API and AI connectivity platform rather than an ERP-specific tool; it commonly sits in front of SAP, Oracle or other ERP backends as a general-purpose gateway, but Kong does not publish a certified, ERP-specific connector the way some data-integration vendors do.
Screenshots & demo
Demo video from the vendor's YouTube channel. Screenshots sourced from Kong Inc..
Features & capabilities
API Gateway Core
Routing, authentication and traffic control at the edge.
- Routing, load balancing and reverse proxying for REST, gRPC, GraphQL, WebSocket, UDP, SOAP and Kafka traffic
- Authentication plugins: Basic Auth, HMAC, JWT and OAuth2 (Community); OpenID Connect and SAML 2.0 (Enterprise)
- Rate limiting and rate limiting advanced with sliding-window controls
- IP restriction and CORS plugins
- Automated certificate issuance via the ACME protocol
- Kubernetes-native Ingress Controller
Security and Governance
Enterprise-tier controls for regulated environments.
- Open Policy Agent (OPA) authorization (Enterprise)
- Mutual TLS authentication for routes and services
- FIPS 140-2 compliant data planes (Enterprise)
- Role-based access control (RBAC)
- Vault and cloud secrets-manager integration for credential storage
- Software Bill of Materials visibility
Konnect Platform
Hosted SaaS control plane on top of Kong Gateway.
- Hosted control plane and database, removing the need for a self-managed database
- 99.9% uptime SLA
- Developer portal and API service catalog
- API analytics and usage-based billing
- Unified management across multiple runtime and gateway groups
AI Gateway
Governance layer for LLM and AI-agent traffic.
- Kong AI Gateway for managing LLM and AI-agent traffic
- Token budgeting and semantic caching for AI/LLM requests
- Multi-provider LLM routing across OpenAI, Azure, Bedrock, Gemini, Cohere and Anthropic
- AI-specific observability dashboards for token usage and request/error rates by provider
Deployment and Extensibility
Where and how Kong runs, and how it is extended.
- On-premises, hybrid and fully managed Konnect deployment modes
- Kong Plugin Development Kit for custom plugin development
- Declarative (kong.yaml) and database-backed configuration
- Kong Insomnia for API design and testing, sold as a separate product
Common use cases
- Deploying a self-hosted, open-source API gateway in front of internal microservices or legacy backends
- Centralizing authentication (OAuth2, OpenID Connect, mTLS) across many APIs behind a single gateway layer
- Managing multi-cloud or hybrid API traffic through the Kong Konnect hosted control plane
- Governing LLM and AI-agent API traffic with token budgets and multi-provider routing via Kong AI Gateway
- Publishing an external developer portal and API catalog for partner or public API programs
- Enforcing rate limiting and traffic control in front of SAP, Oracle or other backend systems as a general-purpose gateway
Strengths & considerations
Strengths
- Open-source core (Kong Gateway) with the same routing and plugin engine available self-hosted at no license cost
- Plugin architecture spanning Community and Enterprise tiers, covering authentication, traffic control, transformation and AI-specific plugins
- Kong AI Gateway extends the same platform to LLM and AI-agent traffic with token budgeting and multi-provider routing
- Deployment flexibility across on-premises, Kubernetes, hybrid and fully managed Konnect SaaS
Pricing
Kong Gateway open source is free and self-hosted. Kong Konnect offers a 30-day free trial with no credit card required; the Plus tier is billed per gateway with the first 1 million API requests included, then 200 dollars per additional million, plus 200 dollars per month for each additional developer portal and 20 dollars per month for each of the first 10 published APIs (10 dollars per month each beyond that). Kong Konnect Enterprise is custom-quoted. Kong Insomnia is priced separately: Essentials free, Pro 12 dollars per user per month, Enterprise 45 dollars per user per month. Get an independent shortlist with pricing guidance below.
Technical & security
- Hosting
- Self-hosted (open source or Enterprise) or fully managed SaaS control plane via Kong Konnect
- Compliance
- FIPS 140-2
About the vendor
- Founded
- 2009
- Headquarters
- San Francisco, California, United States
- Employees
- 500+
- Ownership
- Private (venture-backed; Series E round at a 2 billion dollar valuation; investors include Andreessen Horowitz, Index Ventures, CRV, Goldman Sachs and Tiger Global)
- Notable customers
- United Airlines, HSBC, BMW, PayPal, Bank of America
Alternatives to Kong in API Management
Kong — frequently asked questions
Does Kong have a dedicated SAP or NetSuite connector?
No. Kong Gateway and Kong Konnect are general-purpose API and AI connectivity platforms; they can front any REST, gRPC, GraphQL, SOAP or Kafka backend, including SAP or NetSuite APIs, but Kong does not publish a certified, ERP-specific connector.
Is Kong Gateway open source?
Yes. Kong Gateway has a free, open-source core built on NGINX and OpenResty. The Enterprise tier adds features such as OpenID Connect, SAML 2.0, Open Policy Agent authorization, FIPS 140-2 compliant data planes and 24/7 support.
What is Kong Konnect?
Kong Konnect is the hosted SaaS control plane Kong Inc. provides for managing Kong Gateway deployments, including a developer portal, API service catalog, analytics and usage-based billing.
How is Kong priced?
Kong Gateway open source is free. Kong Konnect offers a 30-day free trial with no credit card required; the Plus tier bills per gateway with the first 1 million requests included, and Enterprise is custom-quoted. Kong Insomnia, the API design and testing tool, is priced separately, from 12 to 45 dollars per user per month for paid tiers.
Does Kong support managing AI and LLM traffic?
Yes. Kong AI Gateway manages LLM and AI-agent traffic with token budgeting, semantic caching and multi-provider routing across models such as OpenAI, Azure, Bedrock, Gemini and Cohere, governed through the same Konnect control plane as regular API traffic.
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