Kong vs WAVE
Side-by-side comparison of features, pricing, and integrations.
Quick Verdict
Kong offers more features (59 vs 10) and more integrations (8 vs 1). Starting price: Kong at $12/mo vs WAVE at Contact Sales. Kong has 59 unique features while WAVE has 10 unique features, with 0 features in common.
| Kong | WAVE | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | DevOps | DevOps |
| Total Features | 59 | 10 |
| AI-Powered Features | 4 | 0 |
| Starting Price | $12/mo | Contact Sales |
| Pricing Tiers | 6 | 0 |
| Integrations | 8 | 1 |
| Shared Features | 0 | |
| Shared Integrations | 0 | |
| Data Quality | 90% | 30% |
Feature Comparison by Category
AI Connectivity (3 vs 0)
| Feature | Kong | WAVE |
|---|---|---|
| AI Gateway | ||
| AI Gateway Paid Plugins | ||
| MCP Gateway |
API (0 vs 2)
| Feature | Kong | WAVE |
|---|---|---|
| Stand-alone WAVE API and Testing Engine | ||
| WAVE Subscription API |
API Discovery (2 vs 0)
| Feature | Kong | WAVE |
|---|---|---|
| Developer Portal | ||
| Service Catalog |
API Governance (5 vs 0)
| Feature | Kong | WAVE |
|---|---|---|
| Consumer Groups | ||
| Federated API Management | ||
| Plugin Ordering | ||
| Request Validation | ||
| Workspaces |
API Testing (1 vs 0)
| Feature | Kong | WAVE |
|---|---|---|
| Insomnia |
Automation (1 vs 0)
| Feature | Kong | WAVE |
|---|---|---|
| Gateway Event Hooks |
Browser Integration (0 vs 3)
| Feature | Kong | WAVE |
|---|---|---|
| Chrome Browser Extension | ||
| Edge Browser Extension | ||
| Firefox Browser Extension |
Core Gateway (1 vs 0)
| Feature | Kong | WAVE |
|---|---|---|
| API Gateway |
Data Processing (1 vs 0)
| Feature | Kong | WAVE |
|---|---|---|
| Data Transformation |
Deployment (5 vs 0)
| Feature | Kong | WAVE |
|---|---|---|
| Dedicated Cloud Gateway | ||
| Hybrid Gateway | ||
| Kubernetes Ingress Controller | ||
| Multi-Cloud Deployment | ||
| Serverless Gateway |
DevOps (3 vs 0)
| Feature | Kong | WAVE |
|---|---|---|
| CI/CD Integration | ||
| Declarative Configuration | ||
| Git Sync |
Development Tools (1 vs 0)
| Feature | Kong | WAVE |
|---|---|---|
| API Design & Testing |
Education (0 vs 1)
| Feature | Kong | WAVE |
|---|---|---|
| Accessibility Education |
Event Streaming (2 vs 0)
| Feature | Kong | WAVE |
|---|---|---|
| Event Gateway | ||
| Kafka Integration |
Extensibility (2 vs 0)
| Feature | Kong | WAVE |
|---|---|---|
| Plugin Development Kit | ||
| Plugin System |
Management (2 vs 0)
| Feature | Kong | WAVE |
|---|---|---|
| Admin GUI | ||
| Kong Manager |
Monetization (1 vs 0)
| Feature | Kong | WAVE |
|---|---|---|
| Metering & Billing |
Monitoring & Analytics (3 vs 0)
| Feature | Kong | WAVE |
|---|---|---|
| API Analytics | ||
| Observability | ||
| OpenTelemetry Support |
Protocol Support (2 vs 0)
| Feature | Kong | WAVE |
|---|---|---|
| GraphQL Support | ||
| Multi-Protocol Support |
Reliability (1 vs 0)
| Feature | Kong | WAVE |
|---|---|---|
| Data Plane Resilience |
Reporting (0 vs 1)
| Feature | Kong | WAVE |
|---|---|---|
| Accessibility Impact (AIM) Report |
Security & Compliance (16 vs 0)
| Feature | Kong | WAVE |
|---|---|---|
| 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 3)
| Feature | Kong | WAVE |
|---|---|---|
| Gateway Mocking | ||
| Human Evaluation Facilitation | ||
| Inso CLI | ||
| Mock Server Requests | ||
| Online WAVE Tool | ||
| WCAG Error Identification |
Traffic Management (4 vs 0)
| Feature | Kong | WAVE |
|---|---|---|
| Advanced Rate Limiting | ||
| Caching | ||
| Rate Limiting | ||
| Routing Engine |
Unique Features
Only in Kong (59)
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
API Gateway
Data Transformation
Dedicated Cloud Gateway
Hybrid Gateway
Kubernetes Ingress Controller
Multi-Cloud Deployment
Serverless Gateway
API Design & Testing
+ 39 more unique features
Only in WAVE (10)
Stand-alone WAVE API and Testing Engine
WAVE Subscription API
Chrome Browser Extension
Edge Browser Extension
Firefox Browser Extension
Accessibility Education
Accessibility Impact (AIM) Report
Human Evaluation Facilitation
Online WAVE Tool
WCAG Error Identification
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