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Flexible Deployment, Smooth Setup
What do you like best about the product?
I really like Kong Gateway's deployment flexibility. It can be deployed in various environments, whether on-premise, off-premise, or in the cloud. It's also appreciated how easy it is to configure services, routes, plugins, and consumers, making the whole setup process smooth and easy. Additionally, the gateway support team is very helpful, providing great assistance.
What do you dislike about the product?
I think Kong Gateway could use some improvements in compliance with regulations like GDPR or HIPAA depending on the environment. It needs to be more compliant in those aspects.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
I use Kong Gateway for API management, microservices, and securing and routing requests.
Phenomenal Speed and GitOps-Friendly Routing with Kong Ingress Controller
What do you like best about the product?
The speed is phenomenal, but the real game-changer is how the Kong Ingress Controller allows us to automate our entire routing configuration through kubernetes native resources and GitOps best practices. Using the OIDC and Rate Limiting plugins saved us weeks of custom development, instantly securing our services with zero performance hit.
What do you dislike about the product?
The shift away from a fully supported Open Source (OSS) model is disappointing, as it forces teams to move toward the Enterprise/Konnect licensing much earlier than expected to maintain security and stability. This transition adds significant overhead for smaller projects and complicates our long-term roadmap when balancing cost against the need for basic production-grade features.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Before Kong, we were bogged down manually coding cross-cutting concerns like OAuth2 and rate limiting for every new service, but now we offload all that complexity to the gateway. This "kickstart" approach has slashed our initial development time by weeks and ensures our entire API ecosystem has a consistent, high-quality security posture from day one.
Easy Onboarding, Tricky Setup with Powerful UI
What do you like best about the product?
I use Kong Gateway for load balancing and find that it handles preflight checks and acts as an auth wrapper using simple modules really well. I appreciate its best UI for routing, which makes things straightforward. What I like the most about Kong Gateway is how easy it is to onboard and use the UI, making the overall experience smooth and enjoyable.
What do you dislike about the product?
The system setup part could be improved. It can be tricky, and having a feature like Helm to set it up instantly would be beneficial.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
I use Kong Gateway for load balancing, handling preflight checks, using auth wrappers with simple modules, and routing efficiently with the best UI.
Kong: A Powerful Open-Source API Gateway for Managing APIs Across Any Environment
What do you like best about the product?
One of the Popular opensource API Gateways which help us to manage APIs deployed anywhere from a simple infra to complex multi cloud environment.
As per my obeservation Kong is capable to handle different protocols like REST, GRPC, Graphql which enables us to manage almost all of our APIs needs.
As per my obeservation Kong is capable to handle different protocols like REST, GRPC, Graphql which enables us to manage almost all of our APIs needs.
What do you dislike about the product?
Need improvement on AI features and plugins in Kong Gateway is limited, impacting overall functionality and performance.
There is lack of analytics and monitoring in Kong Gateway, hindering effective performance tracking.
There is lack of analytics and monitoring in Kong Gateway, hindering effective performance tracking.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
While using other backend APIs, we ended up in applying many of the below architecture characteristics to every individual APIs to support the general requirements. That will be a lot of work.
Authentication/Authorization, Monitoring, Logging, Traffic control, Caching, API Administration etc..
While using Kong Gateway it will take away all these cross-cutting concerns in managing these APIs and put them all across in a single plane. This will provide us with a lot of architecture advantages.
Authentication/Authorization, Monitoring, Logging, Traffic control, Caching, API Administration etc..
While using Kong Gateway it will take away all these cross-cutting concerns in managing these APIs and put them all across in a single plane. This will provide us with a lot of architecture advantages.
Reliable API Gateway with Strong Flexibility
What do you like best about the product?
What stands out most is the flexibility and control it gives us over our API traffic. The plugin-based architecture has been especially useful: we can apply authentication, rate limiting, and logging in a consistent way without having to build everything ourselves. It also integrates smoothly into our existing stack and supports both cloud and on-prem setups, which matters for us given our regulatory and data constraints. Performance has been solid under load as well, and that reliability is critical for our use cases.
What do you dislike about the product?
The biggest challenge for me is the initial setup and the ongoing maintenance. It isn’t always straightforward, especially for teams that aren’t deeply familiar with API gateway concepts. When configuration issues come up, debugging can take a while, and although the documentation is extensive, it can feel a bit fragmented when you’re working through more advanced scenarios. I also get the sense that some enterprise features are more necessary than optional, which can affect cost considerations.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Kong has helped us centralise API management and apply consistent security policies across our services. Before we started using it, many of these controls were implemented separately within each service, which led to duplication and inconsistent behaviour. Now we rely on a single layer for authentication, routing, and monitoring, which lowers risk and makes governance much simpler.
Empowers API Management with Ease, Despite Initial Setup Hurdles
What do you like best about the product?
I like that Kong Gateway is a very useful tool for building secure and scalable applications. It helps me organize, secure, and manage all my APIs easily in one place. What I liked is that many features, like security and rate limiting, can be added easily without much coding. I like how it makes managing and securing APIs simple and organized. I enjoy its speed and how smoothly it integrates with my work.
What do you dislike about the product?
Initial setup can be tricky and debugging could be simpler. Debugging is sometimes hard because errors aren't clear. Clearer error messages or a visual dashboard could make it easier.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Kong Gateway helps securely manage and organize all my APIs efficiently, handling traffic smoothly. It simplifies adding features like security and rate limiting without much coding and integrates well with my workflow.
Robust API Governance and Identity Controls with Kong Gateway
What do you like best about the product?
Kong Gateway provides a robust set of API rules, policies, governance, and identity controls for proper shielding and protection of assets.
What do you dislike about the product?
The Kong Gateway does so many things, and the options are numerous that being focused on particular use cases with specific configuration can be daunting.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Main problem Kong Gateway is solving is a shielding aspect for core software programs and keeping misbehaving systems from interfering with functional activities.
Future-Ready Kong: Thoughtful Features, Flexible Automation, and Great Support
What do you like best about the product?
I started working with Kong about six months ago as a beginner. What I appreciate most about Kong is that the features they release are well thought‑out and come ready for use. Most capabilities can be easily performed through the UI, CLI, or Admin API, which makes automation straightforward and flexible. Kong also supports a wide range of architectures, from legacy setups to modern, cloud‑native designs. Their development process is strong, user feedback is actively considered, enhancements are delivered quickly, and the overall support experience has been very good. This has made learning and working with the platform much easier and more effective.
The introduction of AI Gateway capabilities further positions Kong ahead of the market, making it a future‑ready platform.
The introduction of AI Gateway capabilities further positions Kong ahead of the market, making it a future‑ready platform.
What do you dislike about the product?
One area where I see room for improvement is that some capabilities which were previously available—and are still relevant and commonly expected in the API gateway space—have been deprecated or are no longer supported. For example, earlier versions allowed API products to be created with the same name, which enabled a single‑organization model while differentiating environments such as Production and Non‑Production, and publishing them to their respective developer portals.
With the v3 Developer Portal, this is no longer supported, as API products must have globally unique names. This results in a less optimal user experience or requires maintaining separate organizations for Production and Non‑Production, which in turn increases operational and maintenance overhead. It would be valuable to revisit this capability to better support common enterprise environment‑segregation use cases.
With the v3 Developer Portal, this is no longer supported, as API products must have globally unique names. This results in a less optimal user experience or requires maintaining separate organizations for Production and Non‑Production, which in turn increases operational and maintenance overhead. It would be valuable to revisit this capability to better support common enterprise environment‑segregation use cases.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Based on my experience with Kong, one feature I particularly appreciate is the ability to assign approvers to individual APIs as part of the self‑service journey, without requiring any external approval workflow. This was something we struggled to implement in our previous developer portal. Additionally, Kong makes it very easy to integrate with observability and monitoring tools such as OpenTelemetry and Splunk, enabling seamless visibility into API behavior and performance.
Go-To Multicloud API Gateway with Highly Scalable Performance
What do you like best about the product?
One of the goto solutions for all your API gateway needs in multicloud environments providing highly scalable solutions.
What do you dislike about the product?
Dealing with Enterprise restrictions, plugins management & a few performance challenges
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Open source API gateway platform delivering all your organisation needs
Robust API Management with Impressive Performance and Scalability
What do you like best about the product?
I’m glad to see that this is a robust and well-established choice for API management. Its impressive performance and scalability make it highly efficient, and I particularly value the plugin architecture, which makes it simple to add new features.
What do you dislike about the product?
One persistent issue is that error messages from the proxy or plugin layer are often not sufficiently explicit. This lack of clarity can make it more challenging to debug and determine the underlying cause of a configuration failure.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Since adopting this platform, we have experienced considerable time savings in both the development and maintenance of our individual applications. Furthermore, it enables us to innovate new features quickly and supports a higher degree of customization.
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