There are many things I like about Kong API Gateway, but here are a few of my favorites:
Performance and scalability: Kong is built on top of NGINX, which makes it extremely fast and scalable. It can handle millions of requests per second with ease.
Flexibility: Kong is highly extensible through plugins. This means that you can add new features and functionality to Kong to meet your specific needs.
Open source: Kong is an open source project, which means that it is free to use and modify. This also means that there is a large community of users and contributors who can help you if you have any problems.
Cloud native: Kong is cloud native, which means that it is easy to deploy and manage in the cloud. It also supports a wide range of cloud providers, such as AWS, Azure, and GCP.
Its support for multiple protocols: Kong supports a wide range of protocols, including REST, gRPC, WebSockets, and GraphQL. This makes it a good choice for managing APIs of all types.
Its extensive plugin library: Kong has a large and growing library of plugins. There are plugins for everything from authentication and authorization to rate limiting and caching. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
Lack of native support for API generation: Kong does not offer native functionality to generate APIs automatically. This can be a significant issue if you cannot
import your desired API, which is a reason why Kong may not be right for you.
Steep learning curve for advanced features: While Kong is relatively easy to learn and use for basic tasks, the learning curve for more advanced features, such as plugins and custom routing, can be quite steep.
Limited support for certain technologies: Kong does not offer native support for certain technologies, such as GraphQL and gRPC. While there are plugins available for these technologies, they may not be as robust as native support.
Community support can be inconsistent: The Kong community is generally helpful and supportive, but the level of support can be inconsistent. Sometimes it can take a while to get a response to a question or issue. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
Video Reviews
Kong as an API Management Solution for External APIs
240 out of 241 Total Reviews for Kong API Gateway
Overall Review Sentiment for Kong API Gateway
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All most everything. Like plugins and all Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
here comes the main thing come on to that what i dont like is that -
1. Lack of Client credential storage operation which we get in apigee and IBM connect.
2. Way worse developer portal in comparison of the other developer portals.
3. Frequent issues in syncing of Dataplane is a big concern.
4. the document should be more detailed and on point. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
obviously there are things that are likeable like -
1.the automation process of the deployment of entities and developer portal is great in kong konnect due to the Admin/Management API.
2.Its way easier to use in comparison of IBM connect , akana and Apigee.
3. It justifies its cost to the consumers as it is not the expensive to subscribe for.
4. The plugin stack of kong is great and still in progress of adding more plugins like with the implementation of AI.
5. The low latency for the API request is a great plus too. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
here comes the thing which are not talk about much about kong-
1. kong is yet to understand the requirements of the clients let alone the thought of implementing it, because it takes too much time (months)to solve a simple bug .
2. Delay in deliviring products like kong mesh and Api hub is a big negative for me.
3. they should tie with more CRM's to provide a better experience. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
Upsides:
Simplified API management (different country clusters)
Robust security features (Introspection Plugin)
Scalability and performance of DB-less mode Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
Downsides:
Steep learning curve for decalrative configuration as well as plugin usages
Limited documentation in some areas especially releated to plugins
Occasional stability issues with updates (version upgrade) Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
1. Having mulitple security policy to secure our api
2. We can create out of box custom plugins using Lua, js, python
3. Support Hybrid model
4. Low latency
5. Easy to setup in any cloud gateway like aws,azure,gcp etc
6. Easy to integrate with third party tools like loggly, datadog , prometheus & many more
7. Konnect has recently introduced dedicated cloud gateways, which is fully managed, multi-region API management solution. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
1. Thier documentation regarding things need to be more detailed
2. The developer portal needs to be more mature and should provide more functionality to the developer. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
Their help has been invaluable in getting our infra up and running in record time, & they are always abailble to assist us as wheen i need. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
they charge quite a bit for licenses, and their method of calculating cost based both on API calls and no. of services is quite restrictive. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
Kong API Gateway has some amazing features like
i) It can handle large volume of api requests very efficiently
ii) It supports wide variety of plugins whihch makes it easier to implement new features
iii) It is easier to implement and signup is pretty straight forward
iv) It has very large documentation base which makes easier to debug issues and their customer support is also very reliable
v) It is easier to integrate with different platforms and has robust security features in-built Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
It's developer portal is pretty basic and could be imporved Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
Built on OpenResty, with straightforward Kubernetes resource definition of routes. The documentation was good as well, and there are free plugins and an open source variant of Kong to get you locked in before you realize the need to switch to another provider. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
They are dropping their support for Alpine-based images, and their Ubuntu base image brings about too large an attack surface. So you have to build Kong yourself, but the Enterprise Gateway product adds closed source modifications so it's impossible to get a secure build. Also, you have to go with enterprise for FIPS, which is reasonable if it wasn't prohibitively priced. They charge for every separate microservice TIMES every environment, including QA or trial environments. Basically, this makes them implicitly discourage companies from decoupling their enterprise application into separate services. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
In my view, the standout feature of the Kong gateway is the simplicity of setting up its data planes, especially with Docker compatibility, making it user-friendly.
Additionally, I love the Kong's custom plugin feature, which allows me to enhance API capabilities according to my needs. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
I believe that the Kong API gateway lacks certain features, such as monetization options in the developer portal, which could provide additional benefits for organization
utilizing the portal for API sales. Additionally, I think there should be limits on the number of applications developers can create from the developer portal. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
High Performance and Scalability
Extensive Plugin Architecture
Comprehensive API Management
Strong Security Features
Service Mesh Integration
Active Community and Support Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
Complexity of Advanced Features
Steep Learning Curve for Custom Plugins
Occasional Gaps in Documentation
High Cost of Enterprise Edition
Potential for Configuration Challenges Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
Kong API Gateway is build to be a highly extensible piece of software. It is customizable and integrated with a robust pluin architecture. Developers can write their plugins for custom logic using, among other popular languages like Lua,JavaScript and Go. This will help further shape the gateway as needed and be fully integrated into their already existing infrastructure. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
User setup is complex, and there is a steep learning curve for Kong. New users cannot set it up quickly because the setup is somehow complicated as some users may find the components within it hard to understand. Thus, large scale deployements require much time and expertise, leading to the delay if its implementation. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
