Apiary vs Kong Gateway Enterprise comparison

Oracle and Kong are both solutions in the API Management category. Oracle is ranked #37, while Kong is ranked #5 with an average rating of 7.7. Oracle holds a 0.4% mindshare in APIM, compared to Kong’s 7.2% 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

405 Views
204 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Kong Gateway Enterprise

Read 25 Kong Gateway Enterprise reviews

7,416 Views
5,455 Comparison Views

92% willing to recommend

Apiary

Kong Gateway Enterprise

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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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: June 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Apiary vs. Kong Gateway Enterprise

June 2025

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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

37th

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

5th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the API Management category, the mindshare of Apiary is 0.4%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Kong Gateway Enterprise is 7.2%, up from 5.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

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.

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ASHOK YADAV

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

Offers OIDC, Rate Limiting, Lambda functions but lacks software upgrades

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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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

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

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

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

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

"Git integration"

"In our buying companies' perspective, it was easier to use compared to other platforms. The markets were pretty familiar with the solutions."

"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."

"The tool's scalability is good...The solution's technical support is good."

"Kong Gateway helped to improve performance. It's good enough for our users."

"In terms of stability, the tool's team has made some good efforts, and my company is very happy with the product's approach."

"The most valuable feature of Kong Enterprise is its capability to integrate with various security tools."

"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."

"The most valuable feature of the solution stems from the fact that it seamlessly supports a vast number of tools."

More Kong Gateway Enterprise pros

Cons

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

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

"Swagger (OpenAPI Specification) and Blueprint Support"

"We are facing issues with the solution's features like reports and traffic analysis."

"The developer portal needs to be improved."

"Kong Enterprise fails to provide live tracing of the APIs, which is possible nowadays."

"The software version upgrade process should be improved."

"From an improvement perspective, the product should offer more readily available connectors and also allow for more seamless AI integrations."

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

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

"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."

More Kong Gateway Enterprise cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

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

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

"The licensing fees are paid yearly."

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

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

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

"The product is reasonably priced because it goes by the SaaS model."

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

"There are many factors that influence the price of Kong Enterprise, such as scale, licenses, and usage."

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

More Kong Gateway Enterprise pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

No data available

Financial Services Firm

20%

Computer Software Company

13%

Insurance Company

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

Questions from the Community

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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 do you like most about Kong Enterprise?

The tool's feature that I find most beneficial is rate limiting. In our usage, especially in the financial sector, we prioritize limiting API usage. This is crucial because we provide APIs to other...

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What needs improvement with Kong Enterprise?

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 ...

See all answers

Comparisons

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Microsoft Azure API Management vs Apiary

Compared 31% of the time

Oracle API Platform Cloud Service vs Apiary

Compared 29% of the time

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WSO2 API Manager vs Kong Gateway Enterprise

Compared 13% of the time

Apigee vs Kong Gateway Enterprise

Compared 11% of the time

Microsoft Azure API Management vs Kong Gateway Enterprise

Compared 11% of the time

Kong Konnect vs Kong Gateway Enterprise

Compared 10% of the time

Apache APISIX vs Kong Gateway Enterprise

Compared 10% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

API Management

June 2025

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Buyer's Guide

Kong Gateway Enterprise

June 2025

Download Kong Gateway Enterprise product report

Overview

Apiary's pioneering APIFlow solution provides the framework and tools for developing application programming interfaces (APIs) that share enterprise services and data and help create modern, cloud-based applications and experiences. APIFlow spans the API creation lifecycle, including design, governance, testing, and documentation, while supporting API Blueprint and OpenAPI industry standardsץ

Oracle

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.

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

June 2025

Free Report: Apiary vs. Kong Gateway Enterprise

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