Kong vs KrakenD
Side-by-side comparison of features, pricing, and integrations.
Quick Verdict
Kong offers fewer features (59 vs 89) and fewer integrations (8 vs 18). Starting price: Kong at $12/mo vs KrakenD at Contact Sales. Kong has 56 unique features while KrakenD has 86 unique features, with 3 features in common.
| Kong | KrakenD | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | DevOps | DevOps |
| Total Features | 59 | 89 |
| AI-Powered Features | 4 | 8 |
| Starting Price | $12/mo | Contact Sales |
| Pricing Tiers | 6 | 0 |
| Integrations | 8 | 18 |
| Shared Features | 3 | |
| Shared Integrations | 2 | |
| Data Quality | 90% | 75% |
Feature Comparison by Category
AI Connectivity (3 vs 0)
| Feature | Kong | KrakenD |
|---|---|---|
| AI Gateway | ||
| AI Gateway Paid Plugins | ||
| MCP Gateway |
AI Gateway (0 vs 8)
| Feature | Kong | KrakenD |
|---|---|---|
| AI Budget Control | ||
| AI Gateway | ||
| AI Governance | ||
| AI Security | ||
| Google Gemini Integration | ||
| LLM Routing, Multi-Routing, and Aggregation | ||
| OpenAI Integration | ||
| Unified LLM Interface and Prompt Templates |
API Discovery (2 vs 0)
| Feature | Kong | KrakenD |
|---|---|---|
| Developer Portal | ||
| Service Catalog |
API Governance (5 vs 0)
| Feature | Kong | KrakenD |
|---|---|---|
| Consumer Groups | ||
| Federated API Management | ||
| Plugin Ordering | ||
| Request Validation | ||
| Workspaces |
API Testing (1 vs 0)
| Feature | Kong | KrakenD |
|---|---|---|
| Insomnia |
Authorization & Authentication (0 vs 12)
| Feature | Kong | KrakenD |
|---|---|---|
| API Keys | ||
| AWS SigV4 Authentication | ||
| Basic Authentication | ||
| Client Credentials | ||
| Google GCP Authentication | ||
| JWT Token Signing | ||
| JWT, OpenID Connect, OAuth2 | ||
| Multiple Identity Providers per Endpoint | ||
| NTLM Authentication | ||
| Revoke Server | ||
| Token Revocation Bloom Filter | ||
| mTLS |
Automation (1 vs 0)
| Feature | Kong | KrakenD |
|---|---|---|
| Gateway Event Hooks |
Caching (0 vs 2)
| Feature | Kong | KrakenD |
|---|---|---|
| Cache | ||
| HTTP Cache Headers (for CDN) |
Configuration (0 vs 3)
| Feature | Kong | KrakenD |
|---|---|---|
| Extended Flexible Configuration | ||
| Flexible Configuration | ||
| Multi-Format Configuration |
Core Gateway (1 vs 0)
| Feature | Kong | KrakenD |
|---|---|---|
| API Gateway |
Data Processing (1 vs 0)
| Feature | Kong | KrakenD |
|---|---|---|
| Data Transformation |
Debugging (0 vs 1)
| Feature | Kong | KrakenD |
|---|---|---|
| Dump to Disk |
Deployment (5 vs 0)
| Feature | Kong | KrakenD |
|---|---|---|
| Dedicated Cloud Gateway | ||
| Hybrid Gateway | ||
| Kubernetes Ingress Controller | ||
| Multi-Cloud Deployment | ||
| Serverless Gateway |
DevOps (3 vs 1)
| Feature | Kong | KrakenD |
|---|---|---|
| CI/CD Integration | ||
| Declarative Configuration | ||
| Git Sync | ||
| GitOps Operated |
Developer Tools (0 vs 13)
| Feature | Kong | KrakenD |
|---|---|---|
| Custom Go Plugins | ||
| DOT Image Generator | ||
| Documentation | ||
| Hot-Reload in Development | ||
| IDE Integration | ||
| KrakenD Designer | ||
| OpenAPI Exporter | ||
| OpenAPI Importer | ||
| OpenAPI Server | ||
| Plugin Builder | ||
| Plugin Generator | ||
| Postman Collection Generation | ||
| Syntax Validation and Linting |
Development Tools (1 vs 0)
| Feature | Kong | KrakenD |
|---|---|---|
| API Design & Testing |
Error Handling (0 vs 1)
| Feature | Kong | KrakenD |
|---|---|---|
| Multistrategy Error Handling |
Event Streaming (2 vs 0)
| Feature | Kong | KrakenD |
|---|---|---|
| Event Gateway | ||
| Kafka Integration |
Extensibility (2 vs 0)
| Feature | Kong | KrakenD |
|---|---|---|
| Plugin Development Kit | ||
| Plugin System |
Integration (0 vs 1)
| Feature | Kong | KrakenD |
|---|---|---|
| Services Connectivity |
Management (2 vs 0)
| Feature | Kong | KrakenD |
|---|---|---|
| Admin GUI | ||
| Kong Manager |
Monetization (1 vs 0)
| Feature | Kong | KrakenD |
|---|---|---|
| Metering & Billing |
Monitoring (0 vs 1)
| Feature | Kong | KrakenD |
|---|---|---|
| Monitor & Analytics |
Monitoring & Analytics (3 vs 0)
| Feature | Kong | KrakenD |
|---|---|---|
| API Analytics | ||
| Observability | ||
| OpenTelemetry Support |
Performance (0 vs 2)
| Feature | Kong | KrakenD |
|---|---|---|
| Faster JSON Decoding (fastjson) | ||
| Gzip Compression |
Protocol Support (2 vs 0)
| Feature | Kong | KrakenD |
|---|---|---|
| GraphQL Support | ||
| Multi-Protocol Support |
Reliability (1 vs 0)
| Feature | Kong | KrakenD |
|---|---|---|
| Data Plane Resilience |
Request/Response Transformation (0 vs 16)
| Feature | Kong | KrakenD |
|---|---|---|
| API Aggregation | ||
| Automatic Output Encoding | ||
| Backend For Frontend | ||
| Conditional Request and Responses (CEL) | ||
| Data Transformation | ||
| Data and Protocol Manipulation | ||
| Flatmap | ||
| Lua Advanced Helpers | ||
| Lua Scripting | ||
| Martian (DSL) | ||
| Regular Expression Replacements | ||
| Request Manipulation using Go Templates (Body Generator) | ||
| Response Manipulation using Go Templates | ||
| Response Manipulation with Query Language | ||
| Sequential Proxy |
Routing (0 vs 9)
| Feature | Kong | KrakenD |
|---|---|---|
| Catchall (Fallback Upstream) | ||
| Conditional Routing | ||
| Configurable Client Redirects | ||
| Header and Query String Based Dynamic Routing | ||
| JWT Claim-Based Routing | ||
| Noop Proxy | ||
| URL Rewrite | ||
| Virtual Hosts | ||
| Wildcard Routes |
Security (0 vs 13)
| Feature | Kong | KrakenD |
|---|---|---|
| Audit Configuration | ||
| Authentication | ||
| CORS | ||
| Clickjacking Protection | ||
| Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) Protection | ||
| FIPS-140-2 Cryptography Module | ||
| HTTP Public Key Pinning (HPKP) | ||
| HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS) | ||
| MIME-Sniffing Prevention | ||
| Restrict Connections by Host | ||
| Security Policies Engine | ||
| TLS for HTTPS and HTTP/2 | ||
| Zero-Trust Parameter Forwarding |
Security & Compliance (16 vs 0)
| Feature | Kong | KrakenD |
|---|---|---|
| ACME Certificate Management | ||
| API Security Shift Left | ||
| Advanced Authentication | ||
| Advanced Authorization (OPA) | ||
| Audit Logging | ||
| Basic Authentication | ||
| Bot Detection & CORS Controls | ||
| Domain Capture and Control | ||
| End-to-End Encryption | ||
| FIPS 140-2 Compliance | ||
| Native Vault Integration | ||
| Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) | ||
| SCIM Integration | ||
| SSO (SAML/OIDC) | ||
| Secret Management Integration |
Testing (3 vs 2)
| Feature | Kong | KrakenD |
|---|---|---|
| End-to-End Testing Tool | ||
| Gateway Mocking | ||
| Inso CLI | ||
| Mock Server Requests | ||
| Mocked Data |
Traffic Control (0 vs 2)
| Feature | Kong | KrakenD |
|---|---|---|
| Traffic Management | ||
| Traffic Shadowing/Mirroring |
Traffic Management (4 vs 0)
| Feature | Kong | KrakenD |
|---|---|---|
| Advanced Rate Limiting | ||
| Caching | ||
| Rate Limiting | ||
| Routing Engine |
Validation (0 vs 2)
| Feature | Kong | KrakenD |
|---|---|---|
| JSON Schema Request Validation | ||
| JSON Schema Response Validation |
Unique Features
Only in Kong (56)
AI Gateway Paid Plugins
MCP Gateway
Developer Portal
Service Catalog
Consumer Groups
Federated API Management
Plugin Ordering
Request Validation
Workspaces
Insomnia
Gateway Event Hooks
API Gateway
Dedicated Cloud Gateway
Hybrid Gateway
Kubernetes Ingress Controller
Multi-Cloud Deployment
Serverless Gateway
API Design & Testing
CI/CD Integration
Declarative Configuration
+ 36 more unique features
Only in KrakenD (86)
AI Budget Control
AI Governance
AI Security
Google Gemini Integration
LLM Routing, Multi-Routing, and Aggregation
OpenAI Integration
Unified LLM Interface and Prompt Templates
API Keys
AWS SigV4 Authentication
Client Credentials
Google GCP Authentication
JWT Token Signing
JWT, OpenID Connect, OAuth2
mTLS
Multiple Identity Providers per Endpoint
NTLM Authentication
Revoke Server
Token Revocation Bloom Filter
Cache
HTTP Cache Headers (for CDN)
+ 66 more unique features
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