Kong Gateway Enterprise Reviews

Name: Kong Gateway Enterprise
Brand: Kong
Rating: 4.0 (25 reviews)

Vendor: Kong

4.0 out of 5

25 reviews
92% willing to recommend

192 followers

What is Kong Gateway Enterprise?

Kong delivers a next generation API platform built for modern architectures. With a lightnight-fast, lightweight, and flexible core, Kong delivers sub-millisecond latency across all your services. Kong's is deployment-, vendor-, and pattern-agnostic, allowing you to run your services how you want, where you want, and with who you want - from baremetal to cloud, monolith to microservices, service mesh, and beyond.

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Kong Gateway Enterprise is the #6 ranked solution in top API Management solutions. PeerSpot users give Kong Gateway Enterprise an average rating of 8.0 out of 10. Kong Gateway Enterprise is most commonly compared to Microsoft Azure API Management: Kong Gateway Enterprise vs Microsoft Azure API Management. Kong Gateway Enterprise is popular among the large enterprise segment, accounting for 67% of users researching this solution on PeerSpot. The top industry researching this solution are professionals from a financial services firm, accounting for 20% of all views.

Buyer's Guide

Kong Gateway Enterprise

May 2025

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Featured Kong Gateway Enterprise reviews

AmitKanodia

Cloud & Integration CoE Head at Capgemini

Kong is meant for north-south communications, so it will be interesting to see what solutions they can come up with in the realms of east-west communications, service-to-service communications, and Zero Trust architecture. I believe that if they can provide for these areas, then they will be able to solve the overall integration and security concerns for microservices architecture in general.

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ASHOK YADAV

Solutions Architect at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees

Upgrading Kong Gateway Enterprise should be more sophisticated and innovative. The main issue is with the update process. Our DevOps and admin teams need to update multiple files, which is cumbersome. For instance, in cases where Palantir countries are involved, they have to update many files, which is not ideal. However, for other tasks like configuring the message routing and services and handling all the configurations, the process is acceptable. The software version upgrade process should be improved. Additionally, the DevOps portal should be integrated more natively. There are a few other areas for improvement, such as implementing automatic load balancing. The status of the office team, whether it is up or down, should be checked at the API gateway level to facilitate load balancing.

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Rav Bangalore

GenAI Strategist at Wipro Limited

The ease of integration offered by the tool is strong. The security is being built in the tool. In terms of the connectivity part of the tool, I haven't had a chance to comment on the challenges since we have not tried it on a large enterprise. With Kong Gateway Enterprise, since users want more readily available connectors that can be used in head offices or back offices, it is an area that needs to be considered for improvement. For example, if I give out a setup tomorrow for the systems in head offices or back offices, like SAP or ERP systems, then you should be able to provide connectors, and it is an area where my company has not been able to test the product yet. The aforementioned features should not only be available in Kong Gateway Enterprise but also across the product stack offered by others. From an improvement perspective, the product should offer more readily available connectors and also allow for more seamless AI integrations. Most of the products nowadays are becoming more AI-native because of the needs of the industry. The introduction of GenAI and the use of the integration part to make the tool more of an industry-based solution can make a difference.

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Kong Gateway Enterprise mindshare

As of May 2025, the mindshare of Kong Gateway Enterprise in the API Management category stands at 6.7%, up from 6.0% compared to the previous year, according to calculations based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

API Management

PeerResearch reports based on Kong Gateway Enterprise reviews

Type	Title	Date
Category	API Management	May 19, 2025	Download
Product	Reviews, tips, and advice from real users	May 19, 2025	Download
Comparison	Kong Gateway Enterprise vs Microsoft Azure API Management	May 19, 2025	Download
Comparison	Kong Gateway Enterprise vs Apigee	May 19, 2025	Download
Comparison	Kong Gateway Enterprise vs Amazon API Gateway	May 19, 2025	Download

Title	Rating	Mindshare	Recommending
Microsoft Azure API Management	3.9	17.9%	91%	81 interviews Add to research
Apigee	4.1	13.7%	92%	88 interviews Add to research

Valuable Features

Key features of Kong Gateway Enterprise include plugin-based network services, seamless integration with security tools, and support for RBAC. Users appreciate simplicity, scalability, and open-source benefits. Valuable are protocol transformation, ease of deployment, rate limiting, monitoring, and API governance. Advanced integration with Kubernetes, cloud, and custom plugins enhance performance, making it suitable for cloud environments and AI-driven applications. Its user-friendly dashboard and security features, like OAuth, are also highly regarded.

"Based on my experience, I would definitely recommend Kong Gateway Enterprise to other people."
"Kong's most valuable features are its lightweight performance when handling millions of requests and the ability to write custom plugins to enhance security, such as end-to-end encryption, even in the open-source version."
"In terms of stability, the tool's team has made some good efforts, and my company is very happy with the product's approach."

Room for Improvement

Kong Gateway Enterprise requires improvements in user-friendliness, pricing, updates, and documentation. Integration and support for additional features like automatic scaling, API tracing, and GenAI capabilities are needed. The customization and licensing structures could be more flexible, while better connectors for large enterprises and seamless AI integrations are also desired. Simplified updates and enhanced functionality for the developer portal would be beneficial alongside improvements in technical support response times and user interface.

"More plugins for additional integrations would be helpful and openness for traditional development languages, such as .NET, because many enterprises are looking for .NET solutions or incorporating with .NET solutions."
"The open-source version of Kong does not support a dashboard, which would be very helpful."
"The tool needs to improve in areas like documentation and UI."

ROI

Users appreciate Kong Gateway Enterprise for its scalability and low cost, which benefits clients in an economic environment. The open-source version has no investment cost and delivers enterprise-grade capabilities. Although revenue isn't directly attributed to Kong, it's part of a multi-application system that supports profitable API delivery. It streamlines problem detection with easy access to monitoring systems and logs, adding value alongside additional applications. The community edition is available for free.

Pricing

Enterprise buyers report mixed experiences with Kong Gateway Enterprise pricing. Some find licensing expensive, while others see it as reasonable or comparable to market alternatives. Factors influencing cost include scale, licenses, and usage. The tool's open-source option is noted for startups due to minimal initial investment. Pricing in Thailand is notably high, estimated at about 10 million baht annually. Overall, companies appreciate its community version for initial evaluations.

"Basically, my company uses the tool's open-source version."
"It's expensive in Thailand (10 million baht, in Thai currency)."
"The product is reasonably priced because it goes by the SaaS model."

Popular Use Cases

Organizations primarily use Kong Gateway Enterprise for managing and securing APIs and microservices. It serves as an API gateway, handling public traffic and employing plugins for security, rate limiting, and observability. Integrated with IDP, Kong provides authorization, authentication, and role-based access control. It supports microservices deployment across various markets and industries, facilitating API creation, deployment, and oversight. Users leverage its scalability, manageability, and customization options to optimize their API ecosystems.

Service and Support

Kong Gateway Enterprise users find customer service and support to be generally good, though some note delays and communication issues. Responses are helpful, especially for complex problems, but there's room for improvement in engineer capability and response time. Users rate support around seven to nine out of ten, appreciating available assistance but occasionally relying on third-party vendors for enhanced interaction. Some users received joint support from AWS, which was more immediate than Kong's own support.

Deployment

Most users found Kong Gateway Enterprise's initial setup to be straightforward, with some completing it in a few hours. A few encountered challenges with documentation and required additional support, especially when Lua scripting was new to them. Deployment times varied, ranging from 15 minutes to a few weeks, depending on complexity and infrastructure. Some users appreciated Kong's community support, while others transitioned smoothly to its cloud-based solutions. The process often required clear objectives and collaboration across teams.

Scalability

Kong Gateway Enterprise is often praised for its scalability, with many users noting its ability to handle large numbers of users efficiently. It allows for easy scaling by deploying across multiple regions, although some mention geographic limitations. Users find it seamless for integrating with various environments, and rate scalability highly. However, a minority encounter difficulties. Generally, it suits organizations with varying user bases, supporting diverse scaling needs, especially when configured with different technology frameworks.

Stability

Kong Gateway Enterprise is considered stable with many users reporting reliable performance. Several users rate stability between seven to ten, highlighting good architecture and implementation. Some faced minor issues during upgrades or due to their own operations. Positive feedback includes no significant complaints from customers and successful daily deployments. Configurations require careful management to prevent disruptions. While some suggest robustness improvement, most are satisfied with the current state and stability efforts.

These insights are based on the in-depth reviews provided by peers to help you make a better buying decision.

Download our Kong Gateway Enterprise Buyer's Guide for additional reliable information.