Kong Gateway Enterprise vs OpenLegacy comparison

Kong and OpenLegacy are both solutions in the API Management category. Kong is ranked #9 with an average rating of 7.8, while OpenLegacy is ranked #32. Kong holds a 4.1% mindshare in APIM, compared to OpenLegacy’s 1.4% mindshare. Additionally, 92% of Kong users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 80% of OpenLegacy users who would recommend it.

Kong Gateway Enterprise

Read 26 Kong Gateway Enterprise reviews

6,991 Views
6,991 Comparison Views

92% willing to recommend

OpenLegacy

Read 5 OpenLegacy reviews

2,017 Views
1,311 Comparison Views

80% willing to recommend

Kong Gateway Enterprise

OpenLegacy

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 17, 2024

OpenLegacy and Kong Gateway Enterprise are prominent players in the API management and integration market. OpenLegacy has an advantage in cost-efficiency and usability for legacy systems, while Kong Gateway Enterprise is recognized for its extensive features suitable for microservices architecture.

Features: OpenLegacy excels in seamless legacy application integration, offers fast API creation, and is adaptable to various environments. Kong Gateway Enterprise is known for robust API management, scalability, and cloud-native environment support.

Room for Improvement: OpenLegacy could enhance scalability features and extend support for modern architectures. It might benefit from advanced security options and more robust monitoring tools. Kong Gateway Enterprise could focus on simplifying its deployment process, reducing initial configuration complexity, and lowering setup costs for smaller enterprises.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: OpenLegacy is praised for its simple deployment and minimal configuration requirements, providing efficient customer support. Kong Gateway Enterprise, while more complex to deploy due to extensive capabilities, is supported by comprehensive tools tailored for microservices with responsive customer service.

Pricing and ROI: OpenLegacy is appealing due to lower setup costs and rapid ROI from its seamless integration with existing infrastructure. Kong Gateway Enterprise, although requiring a higher initial investment, provides significant ROI with a comprehensive feature set that enhances functionality in large-scale environments.

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

Buyer's Guide

Kong Gateway Enterprise vs. OpenLegacy

June 2026

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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

Kong Gateway Enterprise

Ranking in API Management

9th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

OpenLegacy

Ranking in API Management

32nd

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

AI Software Development (83rd)

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2026, in the API Management category, the mindshare of Kong Gateway Enterprise is 4.1%, down from 7.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of OpenLegacy is 1.4%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

API Management Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Kong Gateway Enterprise	4.1%
OpenLegacy	1.4%
Other	94.5%

API Management

Featured Reviews

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.

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reviewer1042905

VP, Chief Enterprise Integration Architect at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees

The biggest advantage is how simple the technology was.

I'd like to see OpenLegacy develop its low-code/no-code (LCNC) solutions. They've expanded somewhat their horizons for integration beyond mainframe CICS, which is their sweet spot. They have some tooling in that area, but it's not as good as it needs to be. OpenLegacy handles the bread-and-butter TP monitoring stuff, but I am working for one of the six banks in the United States still using the Hogan mainframe, which has a slightly proprietary mechanism. But OpenLegacy currently doesn't have a connector for Hogan. So it would help if they could build one. That would appeal to financial institutions that still use Hogan, like US Bank, Wells Fargo, KeyBank, and Vanguard.

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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

"The solution provides good performance."

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

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

"The route limiting feature is very valuable."

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

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

"This is a solid intrusion prevention system that combines a firewall and antivirus in a single solution."

"Kong Gateway Enterprise is quite comprehensive."

More Kong Gateway Enterprise pros

"Using OpenLegacy, the exposure of services is far easier and quicker. In many cases, exposure of services requires just a few clicks and takes only minutes. In very complex cases, it still only takes half a day. Without OpenLegacy, it would take us several months to create the same services."

"OpenLegacy provides a way to go from the outside world to the legacy mainframe, to move the old standard application to a REST API application. New digital services can be created in a few clicks and this can be done easily by COBOL programmers."

"Without OpenLegacy, it would take us several months to create the same services."

"The product has helped our business by allowing us to become more efficient in data handling."

"OpenLegacy produces a war file which includes everything you need to deploy a Tomcat server."

"Using mainframe programs (not screens), the OpenLegacy services do not require any changes by the mainframe programmers, thus reducing development cycles."

"The speed of development of production, especially in specific environments like IBM mainframes, has been valuable."

"OpenLegacy opens the door to connect modern web products to our old legacy system."

More OpenLegacy pros

Cons

"The tool needs to improve in areas like documentation and UI."

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

"The main challenge, in my opinion, is the price. It's difficult to convince our management to approve the budget to purchase it from our vendor. There are no technical problems."

"The ease of billing is lost when Kong is not available directly on the Azure marketplace. This is one area where they can improve."

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

"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."

"The software version upgrade process should be improved."

More Kong Gateway Enterprise cons

"I'd like to see OpenLegacy develop its low-code/no-code (LCNC) solutions. They've expanded somewhat their horizons for integration beyond mainframe CICS, which is their sweet spot. They have some tooling in that area, but it's not as good as it needs to be."

"I would like to see SSL out-of-the-box. OpenLegacy certainly does SSL, but it was not the default for our use case. We are currently working with OpenLegacy to cross the SSL bridge and suspect that most users will want to do the same."

"The pricing of the solution could be more flexible and allow for once-off payment versus annual licensing. This would be more appealing to companies in Latin America."

"We would also be more than happy if the product had the option to work in the opposite direction – the ability to consume REST/SOW services in the outer world from the mainframe."

"Customer support for the product is slow and not very good. It makes using the product difficult if you need help quickly."

"Debugging and logging for programmers could be better."

Pricing and Cost Advice

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

"The licensing fees are paid yearly."

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

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

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

"The licensing is expensive."

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

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

More Kong Gateway Enterprise pricing and cost advice

"The pricing of the solution could be more flexible and allow for once-off payment versus annual licensing. This would be more appealing to companies in Latin America."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

18%

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

Insurance Company

Construction Company

24%

Financial Services Firm

13%

Comms Service Provider

12%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	8
Large Enterprise	20

No data available

Questions from the Community

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 ...

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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.

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Comparisons

Microsoft Azure API Management vs Kong Gateway Enterprise

Compared 11% of the time

Apigee vs Kong Gateway Enterprise

Compared 10% of the time

Apache APISIX vs Kong Gateway Enterprise

Compared 8% of the time

WSO2 API Manager vs Kong Gateway Enterprise

Compared 8% of the time

Kong Konnect vs Kong Gateway Enterprise

Compared 6% of the time

More Kong Gateway Enterprise Competitors

IBM DataPower Gateway vs OpenLegacy

Compared 14% of the time

Pipedream vs OpenLegacy

Compared 10% of the time

IBM API Connect vs OpenLegacy

Compared 9% of the time

MuleSoft API Manager vs OpenLegacy

Compared 9% of the time

SEEBURGER Business Integration Suite vs OpenLegacy

Compared 4% of the time

More OpenLegacy Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Kong Gateway Enterprise

July 2026

Download Kong Gateway Enterprise product report

Buyer's Guide

OpenLegacy

June 2026

Download OpenLegacy product report

Overview

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

OpenLegacy integrates legacy customer data with REST APIs, speeding up mobile transactions and code updates while simplifying API development. Its open-source platform offers flexibility, benefiting mainframe environments and Tomcat server deployments.

OpenLegacy is crucial for organizations aiming to integrate modern web applications with legacy systems. The platform is widely used in financial and logistics sectors to enable quick access to customer data and transactions, effectively monetizing mainframe assets. By facilitating the rapid creation of numerous APIs, OpenLegacy supports seamless interactions between applications, allowing modern web form inputs into legacy systems. Its flexibility and extensive capabilities simplify API development and deployment, proving valuable for those managing day-to-day banking and transaction data. However, room for improvement includes better debugging, logging, SSL integration, flexible pricing options, and support availability, especially for Hogan mainframe users.

What features define OpenLegacy?

REST API Integration: Facilitates integration with mobile transactions.
Faster Code Updates: Delivers efficiency in code changes for mainframe environments.
Open-Source Flexibility: Offers customization and broad capabilities.
Tomcat Deployment: Supports straightforward deployment via Tomcat servers.
Rapid API Development: Enables swift creation of multiple APIs.

What ROI benefits should users expect?

Legacy System Monetization: Transforms mainframe assets into profit.
Improved Integration: Enhances access to critical customer data and transactions.
Efficient Operations: Streamlines daily banking and transaction management.
Cost-Effectiveness: Flexibility and open-source nature reduce expenses.
Enhanced Interoperability: Allows seamless interaction between old and new applications.

Financial and logistics companies leverage OpenLegacy to link web applications with legacy systems, ensuring quick customer data and transaction access. This integration supports rapid solution building and efficient management of banking and transaction data, particularly benefiting institutions like US Bank and Wells Fargo needing comprehensive Hogan mainframe connectors.

OpenLegacy

Sample Customers

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

Many of openLegacy's global customers are among the Global 100 companies. Review case studies in these industries: Agriculture, Airport Authority, Automotive, Auto, Finance, Insurance, Government, Healthcare, Manufacturing, and Retailwww.openlegacy.com/case-studie...

Buyer's Guide

Kong Gateway Enterprise vs. OpenLegacy

June 2026

Free Report: Kong Gateway Enterprise vs. OpenLegacy

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