

MuleSoft API Manager and Kong Gateway Enterprise compete in the API management space. MuleSoft holds an advantage with its robust range of features and extensive connectors, while Kong is recognized for its lightweight performance and scalability.
Features: MuleSoft API Manager offers a rich library of connectors, supports hybrid and cloud deployments, and features strong security measures. Its user-friendly development environment and robust policy management make it ideal for large-scale deployments. Kong Gateway Enterprise, on the other hand, excels with a plugin-based architecture allowing seamless integration with Kubernetes and various services, providing flexibility especially in cloud environments. Its lightweight performance and high scalability are major attractions.
Room for Improvement: MuleSoft API Manager would benefit from enhancing user documentation, streamlining version transition processes, and improving pricing for educational sectors. Improved automation features and a more intuitive setup would be advantageous. Kong Gateway Enterprise needs to refine its upgrade process and documentation. Broader integrations with traditional development environments and enhancements in analytics and GenAI capabilities could further elevate its offering. Adjustments to its pricing model are also recommended to address geographic usage disparities.
Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: MuleSoft API Manager provides flexible deployment options across public, private, and hybrid clouds which attract enterprises with diverse integration needs. Its customer service is generally well-regarded but could be more proactive. Kong Gateway Enterprise also supports various cloud setups and is praised for its strong customer support, especially in professional services. Both products provide substantial technical support, although MuleSoft includes this partially with professional services, potentially increasing costs.
Pricing and ROI: MuleSoft API Manager is typically perceived as expensive due to its comprehensive features and per core pricing model, often leading to significant costs as usage scales. It offers a high ROI through reusable APIs and reduced integration efforts but can be cost-prohibitive for smaller organizations. Kong Gateway Enterprise is viewed as more cost-effective, particularly the open-source version, making it an attractive option for startups and smaller businesses. While its community version provides ample functionality, premium features and support entail additional costs.
This iPaaS platform with CloudHub eliminates variable infrastructure-related costs and saves enterprises on connectivity and operations costs, as everything comes bundled from the MuleSoft side.
The technical support from Kong Gateway Enterprise would be rated about eight, as we missed local technical support.
Our enterprise pays for a special success program, which provides priority support.
If bug fixing is required for downtimes or issues, we receive prompt support with alternative solutions or workarounds.
They can be slow in addressing security vulnerabilities.
The scalability of this solution would be rated about eight or nine.
Regarding availability, especially with iPaaS solutions, they guarantee 99.99%.
There was an issue when trying to implement a request-reply pattern using JMS, which was not functioning as expected despite being documented.
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.
Managing the cost of MuleSoft, particularly the billing model based on the number of active cores/threads, has been challenging.
Introducing features related to auto governance without manual effort would make the API Manager smarter and more efficient for enterprises with complex landscapes.
The pricing is high, which is the biggest point where some customers are hesitant about adopting it.
The major challenge they face is the high pricing, which has become notable especially since they transitioned from a VCore to a usage-based subscription.
MuleSoft is typically more expensive compared to using Java or Spring Boot APIs hosted in containers.
The most valuable features of Kong Gateway Enterprise are its seamless integration with Kubernetes and cloud, many plugins that can be incorporated in a solution, and its incorporation with low-code function systems.
MuleSoft's ability to connect to third-party monitoring platforms like AWS, Datadog, and Elastic makes operational analysis more efficient.
We can achieve complex requirements using MuleSoft's capabilities without excessive development time.
In MuleSoft API Manager, I find features like throttling and security to be the most valuable, as these are the things we use and configure as part of our deployments.
| Product | Market Share (%) |
|---|---|
| Kong Gateway Enterprise | 6.5% |
| MuleSoft API Manager | 4.6% |
| Other | 88.9% |

| Company Size | Count |
|---|---|
| Small Business | 8 |
| Large Enterprise | 19 |
| Company Size | Count |
|---|---|
| Small Business | 17 |
| Midsize Enterprise | 5 |
| Large Enterprise | 43 |
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.
Mulesoft API Manager is the portion of the Anypoint Platform that is used for the designing, building, managing, and publishing of APIs. Anypoint Platform uses Mule as its core runtime engine.
Mulesoft API Manager is an extremely versatile solution. It offers users the ability to deploy their APIs in a number of different settings. You can use API Manager on a public cloud, a private cloud, or a hybrid. Additionally, users can use the solution to manage their deployments with ease. A few clicks are all you need to alter your deployment.
Benefits of Mulesoft API Manager
Some of the benefits of using Mulesoft API Manager include:
Reviews from Real Users
Mulesoft API Manager is a highly effective piece of software whose purpose is to enable users to design, build, manage, and publish APIs. It stands out among its competitors for a number of reasons. Two major ones are the ease with which users can connect it to their applications and the high level of value that its support offers. It provides users with the ability to easily connect this solution with whatever program they need to join it with. Users can create connections without having to write code. It offers different types of support which ensure that users have a high level of understanding about the product and how to use it.
PeerSpot user Tolulope A., a technical lead specializing in integration and middleware at a financial services firm, notes the ease with which users can connect Mulesoft API Manager to their applications. He writes, “One good thing about MuleSoft is that they have a lot of connectors to those back-end applications. We don't really need to write code to be able to connect to a database or to connect with SAP. You just need credentials and the connectivity details. Most of the development of what we do is just drag and drop. They're able to connect with applications using standard connectors that are provided by ESB, by MuleSoft.”
The CEO & Co-Founder at a computer retailer notes the value of Mulesoft’s supporting documentation. They write, “The documentation is great; it is always up-to-date and well-presented. If any details are missing, then there is a blog available that contains a lot of details. There are also channels on YouTube to help you better understand the solution and what some of the processes look like.”
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