Alternative to
6 Alternatives to Kong in 2026
Platform teams look for Kong Konnect alternatives when separate AI and API plans complicate budgeting, when running gateways and a control plane is more operating work than a small team wants, or when their cloud already provides a gateway. Common destinations are Apigee, Tyk and Gravitee.
Why people look for an alternative to Kong
Plans are split by product
Kong's pricing page lists AI management and API management as separate Plus plans, each with its own usage meters, so a team governing both LLM traffic and classic APIs plans two bills.
Extra gateways add monthly fees
Plus includes a limited number of hybrid and serverless AI gateways at per control plane rates, and Dedicated Cloud Gateways on Enterprise add a monthly charge per control plane plus bandwidth, which accumulates across environments.
Kong-specific configuration
Plugins, decK files and the Konnect control plane are Kong's own model. Teams that expect to change vendors, or that prefer a cloud provider's native gateway, weigh that migration effort against the benefits.
The best Kong alternatives
- 1
Google Cloud Apigee
Apigee is Google's API management product, covering REST, SOAP, GraphQL and gRPC in one platform, with Gemini Code Assist drafting OpenAPI specs from prompts. Billing mixes per-call charges with hourly environment fees, and a free sandbox lets you try it without a sales call.
Switch if you already run on Google Cloud and manage a large API estate that needs analytics, monetization and a Google-managed platform.
- 2
Tyk
Tyk Technologies publishes its Gateway and Pump as open source under MPL 2.0, and sells licensed plans for the portal and extra controls. Core pricing follows the number of APIs managed, not call volume. One product runs in cloud, hybrid or self-managed form.
Switch if you want to inspect and self-host the gateway code, or need hybrid control without being tied to one vendor's cloud.
- 3
Gravitee
Gravitee, a UK company, covers APIs, event streams and agent traffic under one contract, with unlimited users on every plan and a module that proxies LLM, MCP and A2A calls. Capacity is shared across modules, and each added module has to be purchased separately.
Switch if you govern APIs, events and AI agents together and want onboarding and a customer success manager included with the contract.
- 4
Zuplo
Zuplo is a managed gateway where policies are TypeScript files stored in your own repository. AI and MCP gateway features appear on every plan, including free, and separate policy chains can give each app its own budget and guardrails.
Switch if you are a small team that prefers gateway rules as code in Git and wants managed hosting without running a control plane.
- 5
Amazon API Gateway
Amazon API Gateway is AWS's managed service for REST, HTTP and WebSocket APIs, charged per call received, with a free tier of one million calls monthly for the first 12 months. Its documentation lists no LLM routing or token budgets, and portals or monetization need other AWS services.
Switch if you build mostly on AWS and Lambda, and want to pay per call with no platform to operate beyond your existing account.
- 6
MuleSoft Anypoint Platform
MuleSoft Anypoint bundles API management, agent governance, integration and document processing on one pool of shared credits, with usage dashboards that forecast consumption and alert before a threshold. Every package is bought through sales contact.
Switch if you already integrate systems with MuleSoft and want API governance and integration drawn from a single contract and credit pool.
Before you switch away from Kong
Inventory what Kong holds before you commit to a move. Export your decK files and Terraform state so routes, services and plugins are on record, and list every custom plugin, since none will carry over as is. Note which gateways run hybrid and which run on Dedicated Cloud, because deployment style affects where traffic data stays. Check how you use the Developer Portal and metering, and whether the candidate offers equivalents. Then route one low-risk API through the new gateway in parallel and compare latency, logs and the monthly invoice against Konnect for a full billing cycle.
The full ranking of this category is in Best AI API Management Software in 2026.
Frequently asked questions
Does Kong Konnect train AI models on my traffic?
Kong's privacy policy does not address AI training on customer data, and it excludes data on Kong-hosted Konnect services, which falls under the Konnect Customer Agreement. The policy says Kong processes and stores information in the U.S. The agreement itself was not read for this page, so confirm the point with Kong directly.
Which Kong alternative handles LLM and MCP traffic?
Gravitee lists an Agent Management module for LLM, MCP and A2A traffic, and Zuplo lists AI and MCP gateways on every plan. MuleSoft's governance package mentions guardrails and token budgets. Amazon API Gateway's documentation lists no LLM routing, so teams needing that would add other services.
Can I self-host a Kong alternative?
Yes. Tyk offers open source Gateway and Pump under MPL 2.0 and sells hybrid and self-managed deployments of the same product. Gravitee also lists self-hosted, hybrid and SaaS options. Zuplo, Apigee and Amazon API Gateway are managed services, so you give up control of the gateway runtime.
Is there a cheaper alternative to Kong for a handful of APIs?
Zuplo has a free tier with a request cap, and Amazon API Gateway bills per call with no minimum, so both suit small estates. Gravitee and MuleSoft start at plan sizes aimed at larger organizations. Compare current prices as of November 2026, since request caps and meters change.