Apiary vs Kong Gateway Enterprise comparison

Why PeerSpot?

Oracle and Kong are both solutions in the API Management category. Oracle is ranked #39, while Kong is ranked #14 with an average rating of 8.0. Oracle holds a 1.0% mindshare in APIM, compared to Kong’s 3.4% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Oracle users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 92% of Kong users who would recommend it.

Apiary

Read 4 Apiary reviews

1,669 Views
1,619 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Kong Gateway Enterprise

Read 26 Kong Gateway Enterprise reviews

8,029 Views
8,029 Comparison Views

92% willing to recommend

Apiary

Kong Gateway Enterprise

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 17, 2024

Apiary and Kong Gateway Enterprise compete in the API management market. While Apiary is noted for its cost-effectiveness and strong support, Kong Gateway Enterprise is considered superior for its advanced features, making it a preferred option for those valuing scalability and security.

Features: Apiary provides API documentation and collaboration tools, GitHub integration for version control, and supports multiple API notations like Swagger. Kong Gateway Enterprise offers robust scalability, plugin-based network services, and seamless integration capabilities, essential for managing and securing microservices.

Room for Improvement: Apiary could benefit from enhanced scalability and more advanced security features. Adding more role-based control options and improving performance in high-demand environments would further strengthen its offering. Kong Gateway Enterprise could improve initial deployment complexity, simplify its configuration process, and offer more straightforward user interface options for less technical users.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Apiary is praised for its easy integration and responsive support, ensuring smooth deployment for users. Kong Gateway Enterprise, while challenging to deploy, compensates with extensive documentation and versatility across on-premises and cloud environments, appealing to enterprise needs. Its adaptability allows integration into diverse setups.

Pricing and ROI: Apiary's relatively low setup costs offer a quick ROI, particularly for organizations focused on improving API development processes efficiently. In contrast, Kong Gateway Enterprise requires a higher initial investment but delivers substantial long-term ROI through its comprehensive features and scalability, aligning with the needs of larger organizations seeking advanced management capabilities.

To learn more, read our detailed Apiary vs. Kong Gateway Enterprise Report (Updated: November 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Apiary vs. Kong Gateway Enterprise

November 2026

Download the complete report

Helped 921,148 peers since 2012

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

Apiary

Ranking in API Management

39th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Kong Gateway Enterprise

Ranking in API Management

14th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2026, in the API Management category, the mindshare of Apiary is 1.0%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Kong Gateway Enterprise is 3.4%, down from 6.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

API Management Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Kong Gateway Enterprise	3.4%
Apiary	1.0%
Other	95.6%

API Management

Featured Reviews

Phil Wilkins

Enterprise Integration Architect at Capgemini

The ability to configure rules to check for consistency has helped

Apiary provides a free tier of the platform which allows a small group of developers to collaborate easily on the design of open source APIs. In addition to this, it provides mock endpoints allowing people to experiment with the API without depending or having to stand up a real backend. With our clients, using Apiary allows us to very quickly pull together an API definition (particularly when using API Blueprint). The whole API design process for the simpler use cases can be done in a relatively short workshop which makes it a lot easier to agree, publish, version-manage an API definition with suitable documentation. This can then be evolved and enhanced (particularly in the documentation aspects). With the ability to support Swagger (Open API v2 and introducing/ed support for v3) and API Blueprint makes it a very versatile tool.

Read full review

KuntalSaha

Business Consultant at Ernst & Young

Modernization projects have progressed well but documentation and security guidance still need work

Bringing in additional features to Kong Gateway Enterprise would not necessarily help it. Improving the existing features, increasing security, and adding robustness would be more beneficial. The focus should be on stabilizing the product, improving it, and increasing the documentation. Kong should focus on how the product can be self-onboarded or self-implemented, as this would ease and help customers significantly. The necessary deployment of Kong Gateway Enterprise, API management, and guidance on how customers can use it or improve that area would be helpful. Security is a major concern, especially with new security architecture coming into place. These are the areas that should be prioritized. Beyond these areas, I do not see anything lacking. Kong Gateway Enterprise is quite comprehensive.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"Vey high - very easy API design with no setup effort"

"This solution has allowed us to standardize API definitions and bring consistency into our shared components, reducing the effort and cost of using functionality across domains within the organization, with Apiary being crucial to our good API strategy."

"Git integration"

"I do like the overall performance of the solution."

"The feature I find most valuable is that it offers authentication and allows us to develop communication points."

"In two years, there was one time the service was down for an hour or so."

"Quick and easy way to share a new API design with teams."

"I find the generation of mock services very useful, especially when demonstrating for new consumers."

"Kong Enterprise is a good API gateway and API management product which is based on lightweight and high-performance software."

"The price is reasonable compared to that of alternative solutions."

"Kong Enterprise has excellent plugin support."

"The most valuable features of Kong Enterprise are the out-of-the-box open source easy functionality."

"The features I like include ease of operation and implementation in a cloud environment, the dashboarding features for API statistics, and the user-friendly developer portal."

"It offers a wide range of plugins that we leverage, including OIDC, Rate Limiting, Lambda functions, and more."

"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."

"There are a few features that I like about Kong when it comes to authentication and authorization. Specifically, being able to use Kong for role-based access control (RBAC), and then further being able to integrate the RBAC mechanism with our enterprise directory, was very useful."

More Kong Gateway Enterprise pros

Cons

"Validation messages could be a bit clearer."

"Swagger (OpenAPI Specification) and Blueprint Support"

"I would like an integrated option to download a Swagger version of the definition."

"The Oracle release cycle is very bad because the patches only update once a year."

"I don't think this solution is very stable so we try to manage stability from our side."

"Better Swagger support."

"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."

"Kong Enterprise has decided not to support the web portal feature anymore, but I think that feature should stay in the on-premises solution."

"The solution should include policy features that are available in other solutions like MuleSoft API manager but missing in Kong Enterprise."

"Kong Enterprise can improve the customization to be able to do the integration properly."

"For us, implementing Kong Gateway Enterprise with existing infrastructures and the cloud in tandem requires more effort than implementing MuleSoft or Azure APIM or AWS."

"The developer portal needs to be improved."

"Understanding the configurations and knowing what needs to be done can be a bit difficult initially."

More Kong Gateway Enterprise cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"There is a free subscription option to start and try the service."

"It is easy to get started with personal (free) accounts, but a subscription is required for additional features."

"Kong Enterprise is cheaper than Apigee. I rate its pricing as four out of ten."

"The licensing is expensive."

"Kong Enterprise's pricing is at par compared to the other technologies."

"The licensing fees are paid yearly."

"It's expensive in Thailand (10 million baht, in Thai currency)."

"There is a need to pay towards the licensing charges...In some areas, the functionalities are available free of charge."

"Kong Enterprise's pricing is reasonable for our company size."

"Basically, my company uses the tool's open-source version."

More Kong Gateway Enterprise pricing and cost advice

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which API Management solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

921,148 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Construction Company

17%

Financial Services Firm

17%

Comms Service Provider

15%

Outsourcing Company

14%

Financial Services Firm

16%

Manufacturing Company

Comms Service Provider

Computer Software Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	8
Large Enterprise	20

Questions from the Community

Ask a question

Earn 20 points

How does Kong Enterprise compare with Mulesoft Anypoint API Manager?

The Mulesoft Anypoint API Manager was designed with its users in mind. Though it is a reasonably complex piece of software, it is easy to install and upgrade. While there are different things that ...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Kong Enterprise?

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Kong Enterprise?

Our primary use cases for Kong Gateway Enterprise are modernizations, migrations, and digitalizations of financial institutions. These are the primary areas we are looking for.

See all answers

Comparisons

Apigee vs Apiary

Compared 18% of the time

SwaggerHub vs Apiary

Compared 15% of the time

IBM webMethods Hybrid Integration vs Apiary

Compared 6% of the time

Microsoft Azure API Management vs Apiary

Compared 6% of the time

Tencent Cloud API Gateway vs Apiary

Compared 3% of the time

More Apiary Competitors

Microsoft Azure API Management vs Kong Gateway Enterprise

Compared 11% of the time

Apigee vs Kong Gateway Enterprise

Compared 9% of the time

WSO2 API Manager vs Kong Gateway Enterprise

Compared 8% of the time

Apache APISIX vs Kong Gateway Enterprise

Compared 7% of the time

Kong Konnect vs Kong Gateway Enterprise

Compared 6% of the time

More Kong Gateway Enterprise Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

API Management

October 2026

Download Apiary product report

Buyer's Guide

Kong Gateway Enterprise

October 2026

Download Kong Gateway Enterprise product report

Overview

Apiary offers dynamic solutions for designing, documenting, and managing APIs, tailored for professionals seeking a streamlined approach to API development. It is a comprehensive tool that enhances collaboration and speeds up the design-to-deployment process.

Built to facilitate seamless API management, Apiary provides advanced features for API design, prototyping, and collaboration. It supports businesses in creating robust APIs with reduced effort and increased efficiency. The ease of use and integration with existing development operations make Apiary a preferred choice for API-centric workflows. Its intuitive platform empowers developers to deliver high-quality APIs swiftly, catering to the demands of modern digital ecosystems.

What are the standout features of Apiary?

API Blueprint: Enables easy definition and sharing of API designs in a human-readable format.
Interactive Documentation: Provides real-time updates and testing capabilities for API documentation.
Mock Servers: Allows users to simulate APIs for testing without costly backend changes.
Collaboration Tools: Facilitates team communication and feedback integration directly within the platform.

What are the key benefits and ROI to consider?

Faster Development: Reduces time-to-market by streamlining API design and testing.
Cost Efficiency: Minimizes resources needed for backend changes with comprehensive mock testing.
Improved Team Collaboration: Enhances productivity through integrated communication features.
Enhanced API Quality: Provides tools for creating consistent and high-quality APIs, reducing post-launch issues.

Apiary has seen positive adoption in industries such as finance, healthcare, and retail. In finance, it supports the integration of secure APIs for transaction processing. Healthcare uses Apiary for creating interoperable systems that facilitate patient data exchange. Retail businesses leverage the agile development features for inventory management APIs and customer experience enhancements.

Oracle

Kong Gateway Enterprise is an advanced API management platform offering seamless integration, robust security features, and flexible deployment options for modern enterprises needing efficient API handling.

Kong Gateway Enterprise stands out with its plugin-based network services and ease of implementation in Kubernetes environments. It delivers robust API governance, impressive rate limiting, and customization with Lua scripts. Enhanced with high-performance handling and AI-driven functionality, it supports efficient API monetization. It also ensures competitive pricing, scalability, and strong community support.

What are the key features of Kong Gateway Enterprise?

Plugin-Based Services: Allows easy customization and integration.
Security: Delivers comprehensive API security options.
Rate Limiting: Offers control over API traffic for better performance.
Deployment Flexibility: Supports cloud environments effortlessly.
AI Integration: Enhances functionality with AI-driven applications.

What benefits and ROI should users consider in Kong Gateway Enterprise?

Ease of Use: Simplifies API management tasks.
Scalability: Supports growth with robust infrastructure.
Customizability: Tailors API management with Lua scripts.
Community Support: Offers strong resources and collaboration opportunities.
API Monetization: Enables revenue opportunities through efficient management.

Organizations across finance, IoT, manufacturing, and e-commerce sectors implement Kong Gateway Enterprise to streamline microservices deployment and integration. It manages API security and traffic while providing observability and scalability. The platform enables integration with IDPs and other systems, securing extensive API ecosystems.

Kong

Sample Customers

Microsoft, salesforce.com, Bloomberg, GoodData, Viacom, Akamai Technologies, DigitalGlobe

Cargill, Zillow, Ferrari, WeWork, Healthcare.gov, Yahoo! Japan, Giphy, SkyScanner

Buyer's Guide

Apiary vs. Kong Gateway Enterprise

November 2026

Free Report: Apiary vs. Kong Gateway Enterprise

Find out what your peers are saying about Apiary vs. Kong Gateway Enterprise and other solutions. Updated: November 2026.

DOWNLOAD NOW

921,148 professionals have used our research since 2012.

See our Apiary vs. Kong Gateway Enterprise report.

See our list of best API Management vendors.

We monitor all API Management reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.