Kong vs NGINX One
Side-by-side comparison of features, pricing, and integrations.
Quick Verdict
Kong offers more features (59 vs 24) and more integrations (8 vs 4). Starting price: Kong at $12/mo vs NGINX One at Free. Kong has 57 unique features while NGINX One has 22 unique features, with 2 features in common.
| Kong | NGINX One | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | DevOps | DevOps |
| Total Features | 59 | 24 |
| AI-Powered Features | 4 | 0 |
| Starting Price | $12/mo | Free |
| Pricing Tiers | 6 | 1 |
| Integrations | 8 | 4 |
| Shared Features | 2 | |
| Shared Integrations | 1 | |
| Data Quality | 90% | 70% |
Feature Comparison by Category
AI Connectivity (3 vs 0)
| Feature | Kong | NGINX One |
|---|---|---|
| AI Gateway | ||
| AI Gateway Paid Plugins | ||
| MCP Gateway |
API Discovery (2 vs 0)
| Feature | Kong | NGINX One |
|---|---|---|
| Developer Portal | ||
| Service Catalog |
API Governance (5 vs 0)
| Feature | Kong | NGINX One |
|---|---|---|
| Consumer Groups | ||
| Federated API Management | ||
| Plugin Ordering | ||
| Request Validation | ||
| Workspaces |
API Management (0 vs 1)
| Feature | Kong | NGINX One |
|---|---|---|
| API Gateway |
API Testing (1 vs 0)
| Feature | Kong | NGINX One |
|---|---|---|
| Insomnia |
Application Delivery (0 vs 1)
| Feature | Kong | NGINX One |
|---|---|---|
| Reverse Proxy |
Automation (1 vs 0)
| Feature | Kong | NGINX One |
|---|---|---|
| Gateway Event Hooks |
Cloud & Infrastructure (0 vs 2)
| Feature | Kong | NGINX One |
|---|---|---|
| Cloud-Native Architecture | ||
| Hybrid & Multicloud Support |
Cloud Integrations (0 vs 2)
| Feature | Kong | NGINX One |
|---|---|---|
| Azure Marketplace Integration | ||
| Google Cloud Integration |
Core Gateway (1 vs 0)
| Feature | Kong | NGINX One |
|---|---|---|
| API Gateway |
Cost Management (0 vs 1)
| Feature | Kong | NGINX One |
|---|---|---|
| Cost Optimization |
Data Processing (1 vs 0)
| Feature | Kong | NGINX One |
|---|---|---|
| Data Transformation |
Deployment (5 vs 0)
| Feature | Kong | NGINX One |
|---|---|---|
| Dedicated Cloud Gateway | ||
| Hybrid Gateway | ||
| Kubernetes Ingress Controller | ||
| Multi-Cloud Deployment | ||
| Serverless Gateway |
DevOps (3 vs 0)
| Feature | Kong | NGINX One |
|---|---|---|
| CI/CD Integration | ||
| Declarative Configuration | ||
| Git Sync |
Development Tools (1 vs 0)
| Feature | Kong | NGINX One |
|---|---|---|
| API Design & Testing |
Event Streaming (2 vs 0)
| Feature | Kong | NGINX One |
|---|---|---|
| Event Gateway | ||
| Kafka Integration |
Extensibility (2 vs 0)
| Feature | Kong | NGINX One |
|---|---|---|
| Plugin Development Kit | ||
| Plugin System |
Kubernetes & Container Orchestration (0 vs 3)
| Feature | Kong | NGINX One |
|---|---|---|
| Kubernetes Support | ||
| NGINX Gateway Fabric | ||
| NGINX Ingress Controller |
Load Balancing (0 vs 2)
| Feature | Kong | NGINX One |
|---|---|---|
| Load Balancing | ||
| Traffic Management |
Management (2 vs 2)
| Feature | Kong | NGINX One |
|---|---|---|
| Admin GUI | ||
| Kong Manager | ||
| Management Console | ||
| NGINX Instance Manager |
Monetization (1 vs 0)
| Feature | Kong | NGINX One |
|---|---|---|
| Metering & Billing |
Monitoring & Analytics (3 vs 2)
| Feature | Kong | NGINX One |
|---|---|---|
| API Analytics | ||
| App Health & Performance Insights | ||
| Observability | ||
| OpenTelemetry Support |
Performance (0 vs 2)
| Feature | Kong | NGINX One |
|---|---|---|
| Content Cache | ||
| Performance Acceleration |
Protocol Support (2 vs 1)
| Feature | Kong | NGINX One |
|---|---|---|
| GraphQL Support | ||
| Multi-Protocol Support | ||
| QUIC+HTTP/3 Support |
Reliability (1 vs 0)
| Feature | Kong | NGINX One |
|---|---|---|
| Data Plane Resilience |
Scalability (0 vs 1)
| Feature | Kong | NGINX One |
|---|---|---|
| Scalability |
Security (0 vs 3)
| Feature | Kong | NGINX One |
|---|---|---|
| DoS Protection | ||
| Security | ||
| WAF (Web Application Firewall) |
Security & Compliance (16 vs 0)
| Feature | Kong | NGINX One |
|---|---|---|
| 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 0)
| Feature | Kong | NGINX One |
|---|---|---|
| Gateway Mocking | ||
| Inso CLI | ||
| Mock Server Requests |
Traffic Management (4 vs 0)
| Feature | Kong | NGINX One |
|---|---|---|
| Advanced Rate Limiting | ||
| Caching | ||
| Rate Limiting | ||
| Routing Engine |
Web Server (0 vs 1)
| Feature | Kong | NGINX One |
|---|---|---|
| Web Server |
Unique Features
Only in Kong (57)
AI Gateway
AI Gateway Paid Plugins
MCP Gateway
Developer Portal
Service Catalog
Consumer Groups
Federated API Management
Plugin Ordering
Request Validation
Workspaces
Insomnia
Gateway Event Hooks
Data Transformation
Dedicated Cloud Gateway
Hybrid Gateway
Kubernetes Ingress Controller
Multi-Cloud Deployment
Serverless Gateway
API Design & Testing
CI/CD Integration
+ 37 more unique features
Only in NGINX One (22)
Reverse Proxy
Cloud-Native Architecture
Hybrid & Multicloud Support
Azure Marketplace Integration
Google Cloud Integration
Cost Optimization
Kubernetes Support
NGINX Gateway Fabric
NGINX Ingress Controller
Load Balancing
Traffic Management
Management Console
NGINX Instance Manager
App Health & Performance Insights
Content Cache
Performance Acceleration
QUIC+HTTP/3 Support
Scalability
DoS Protection
Security
+ 2 more unique features
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