How to Build Your Own Kong
Replace Kong with a custom build. The API Platform Powering the API World
Build Difficulty: 5/5
Build a working replacement in a weekend with AI tools
Estimated Timeline
Based on 59 features at Weekend Project difficulty, expect about One weekend with AI-assisted development.
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Key Features to Replicate
Top features across 8 categories. See all 59 features
Security & Compliance(16 features)
Manage ACME certificates for secure API connectivity
Full OAuth 2.0, OpenID Connect, Vault, Mutual TLS, JWT Signing/Resigning, SAML2.0, JWE Decrypt, and full LDAP support
Control access to APIs with complex, programmable, enterprise-wide rules using Open Policy Agent
Shift API security left and right through automated API security checkpoints in CI/CD pipeline
Maintain detailed cluster config records for enhanced security, compliance, debugging, and risk management
+11 more in this category
API Governance(5 features)
Define any number of plugin tiers such as rate limiting and apply them to subsets of consumers
Easily organize services and data planes via control planes for isolation based on environment or teams
Declaratively configure the execution order of plugins based on organizational needs
Validate requests using Kong's schema validator or JSON Schema Draft 4-compliant validator
Provide isolation and organization of API services and configurations for different teams
Deployment(5 features)
Dedicated cloud gateway control planes deployable across AWS, GCP, and Azure regions
Hybrid API gateway control planes for on-premises and cloud-hosted deployments
Configure Kong Gateway the same way as Kubernetes with Kubernetes native deployment patterns
Deploy Kong Gateway across cloud, on-prem, and hybrid environments including AWS, GCP, and Azure
Serverless API gateway control planes for scalable deployments
Traffic Management(4 features)
Advanced rate limiting with sliding window controls for enterprise deployments
Lightweight caching capabilities for improved API performance
Enterprise-grade rate limiting with sliding window controls and configurable limits
New routing engine to configure Routes using Expressions for handling complex routing requests
AI Connectivity(3 features)
Unified, secure, reliable, cost-effective multi-LLM interface for AI agents and MCP servers to interact with LLMs across the enterprise
Advanced AI plugins including AWS Guardrails, Azure Content Safety, Prompt Compressor, RAG Injector, Rate Limiting, Sanitizer, Semantic Cache, and Semantic Prompt Guard
Design, compose, and run intelligent MCP integration patterns that leverage secure APIs and real-time data as lean, cost-effective tools
DevOps(3 features)
Automate the entire API lifecycle as part of CI/CD, GitOps, and Infrastructure as Code strategies
Manage Kong Gateway updates via declarative configuration and CI/CD pipelines
Synchronize API and gateway configurations with Git repositories for version control
Monitoring & Analytics(3 features)
Real-time visibility into all APIs and gateway performance with advanced analytics and request tracking
Stand-up cross platform observability, compliance guardrails, cost governance, and control mechanisms for every point of AI connectivity
Manage the collection and sampling of tracing information for observability
Testing(3 features)
Mock API responses directly on the API gateway for testing and development
Command-line interface for CI/CD automation and API testing
Mock API server requests for testing and development purposes
Cost Calculator
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Total Cost Comparison
DIY hosting estimate based on Vercel + Supabase free/pro tiers (~$20/mo). Build time estimated from 59 features at very easy complexity.