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Lightweight Yet Powerful
What do you like best about the product?
Lightweight but powerful, deploy anywhere
What do you dislike about the product?
control plane groups, lua based plugins, lua is dead
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Federated gateways, dev teams being self sufficient in managing their APIs
Native Kubernetes Support, but the Pricing Structure Needs Work
What do you like best about the product?
Native Kubernetes support is a key asset as thats the main entrypoint for our apps
What do you dislike about the product?
The pricing structure, I dont know exactly to what extent Kong is really OSS, as we build heavily on OSS software its important to know the licensing of the product / plugins
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
We dont actively use Kong currently as more transparant open source gateways (like Tyk) currently cover all our needs
Kong’s Built-In API Key Management Makes Zero Trust Easy
What do you like best about the product?
Kong has built-in API key management and can implement Zero Trust.
What do you dislike about the product?
Some requires extensive time to setup/configuration.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Maybe some observability on how traffic flows?
High-Performance, Cloud-Native API Gateway with Flexible Plugins and Strong Security
What do you like best about the product?
High performance – Built on NGINX/OpenResty, handles heavy API traffic with low latency
Plugin-based architecture – Easily add features like auth, rate limiting, logging
Scalable – Suitable for microservices and large distributed systems
Cloud-native friendly – Works well with Kubernetes and containerized environments
Strong security features – Supports OAuth2, JWT, key authentication, etc.
Centralized management – Control APIs from a single platform
Flexible deployment – Can be deployed on-prem, cloud, or hybrid
Active community & support – Good documentation and ecosystem
Plugin-based architecture – Easily add features like auth, rate limiting, logging
Scalable – Suitable for microservices and large distributed systems
Cloud-native friendly – Works well with Kubernetes and containerized environments
Strong security features – Supports OAuth2, JWT, key authentication, etc.
Centralized management – Control APIs from a single platform
Flexible deployment – Can be deployed on-prem, cloud, or hybrid
Active community & support – Good documentation and ecosystem
What do you dislike about the product?
Advanced features are paid – Many enterprise capabilities (analytics, RBAC, dev portal) require paid versions
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Kong Gateway helps by:
Centralizing API management
Improving security (auth, rate limiting)
Handling traffic efficiently
Standardizing policies across services
Benefit: Saves development time, improves scalability, and makes APIs more secure and manageable.
Centralizing API management
Improving security (auth, rate limiting)
Handling traffic efficiently
Standardizing policies across services
Benefit: Saves development time, improves scalability, and makes APIs more secure and manageable.
Intuitive API Management with Seamless Security
What do you like best about the product?
I appreciate how with Kong Gateway, we can easily apply security for our APIs, which makes it very user-friendly. I like the interface of Kong Gateway for users because it's clear, and even a user who is new to Kong Gateway can easily use it. It's also nice that we can easily set it up with the help of the helpline.
What do you dislike about the product?
The trial period is too short; I'd like it to be extended beyond 45 days.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Kong Gateway helps us easily apply security for our APIs and has a clear, user-friendly interface.
Kong Gateway: Reliable and Scalable API Gateway for Microservices
What do you like best about the product?
Kong Gateway is highly performant and scalable, making it ideal for microservices environments. I really like its plugin-based architecture, which allows easy implementation of features like authentication, rate limiting, and logging without changing application code. Its Kubernetes support and declarative configuration also make it very DevOps-friendly.
What do you dislike about the product?
Kong Gateway has a noticeable learning curve, especially for beginners, and some configurations can be complex to troubleshoot. Also, a few advanced features are limited to the enterprise version, which may not be ideal for all teams.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Kong Gateway centralizes API management, helping us handle authentication, rate limiting, and monitoring in one place. This reduces development effort, improves security, and provides better visibility into API performance and usage.
Flexible Deployment, Smooth Setup
What do you like best about the product?
I really like Kong Gateway's deployment flexibility. It can be deployed in various environments, whether on-premise, off-premise, or in the cloud. It's also appreciated how easy it is to configure services, routes, plugins, and consumers, making the whole setup process smooth and easy. Additionally, the gateway support team is very helpful, providing great assistance.
What do you dislike about the product?
I think Kong Gateway could use some improvements in compliance with regulations like GDPR or HIPAA depending on the environment. It needs to be more compliant in those aspects.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
I use Kong Gateway for API management, microservices, and securing and routing requests.
Phenomenal Speed and GitOps-Friendly Routing with Kong Ingress Controller
What do you like best about the product?
The speed is phenomenal, but the real game-changer is how the Kong Ingress Controller allows us to automate our entire routing configuration through kubernetes native resources and GitOps best practices. Using the OIDC and Rate Limiting plugins saved us weeks of custom development, instantly securing our services with zero performance hit.
What do you dislike about the product?
The shift away from a fully supported Open Source (OSS) model is disappointing, as it forces teams to move toward the Enterprise/Konnect licensing much earlier than expected to maintain security and stability. This transition adds significant overhead for smaller projects and complicates our long-term roadmap when balancing cost against the need for basic production-grade features.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Before Kong, we were bogged down manually coding cross-cutting concerns like OAuth2 and rate limiting for every new service, but now we offload all that complexity to the gateway. This "kickstart" approach has slashed our initial development time by weeks and ensures our entire API ecosystem has a consistent, high-quality security posture from day one.
Great Performance and Extensibility, but Missing AI Features and Plugin Support
What do you like best about the product?
Performance and extensibility, platform independence & cloud capability.
What do you dislike about the product?
Lack of AI features and plugins capability
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
API Gateway is need by all organisations with multiple systems and data pipelines
Easy Onboarding, Tricky Setup with Powerful UI
What do you like best about the product?
I use Kong Gateway for load balancing and find that it handles preflight checks and acts as an auth wrapper using simple modules really well. I appreciate its best UI for routing, which makes things straightforward. What I like the most about Kong Gateway is how easy it is to onboard and use the UI, making the overall experience smooth and enjoyable.
What do you dislike about the product?
The system setup part could be improved. It can be tricky, and having a feature like Helm to set it up instantly would be beneficial.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
I use Kong Gateway for load balancing, handling preflight checks, using auth wrappers with simple modules, and routing efficiently with the best UI.
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