We use Kong for our API gateway, handling all public traffic. It is an open-source tool, and even though we are a startup, it provides us with stability without incurring high costs initially.
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Easy to use and robust
What do you like best about the product?
Easy to use , many features and excellent documentation
What do you dislike about the product?
Pricing is bit higher compared to other products
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
API Management
Integration of Kong API Gateway.
What do you like best about the product?
Working good across different environment and easy to configure in other applications and more secured.
What do you dislike about the product?
Open-source version is lacks some advanced features. understanding the reason for the errors is less.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Easy to deploy in the Cloud and protect API from unauthorized access. Also low latency and load balancing.
Powerful and Scalable API Gateway with Great Extensibility
What do you like best about the product?
Kong’s high scalability, lightweight architecture, and extensive plugin support make it an excellent choice for managing APIs efficiently.
What do you dislike about the product?
The learning curve can be steep for beginners, and debugging custom plugins (especially in Lua) can be challenging. The enterprise version is expensive, which might not be ideal for small teams or startups.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Kong API Gateway helps in securing, managing, and scaling APIs efficiently. It simplifies authentication, traffic control, and monitoring, reducing the need for custom-built solutions. The plugin-based architecture allows easy extension of functionalities, improving developer productivity and API performance.
We use kong as our api gateway
What do you like best about the product?
It continues to deliver a stable and smooth experience, and we're confident in relying on it for our product.
What do you dislike about the product?
Add a staging/testing mode for configuration validation.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
We used its plugins for several perpose
Like cors management ip filtering grpc gateway...
Like cors management ip filtering grpc gateway...
overall best Api management vendor and product and cicd solution with AI & ML.
What do you like best about the product?
Their help has been invaluable in getting our infra up and running in record time, & they are always abailble to assist us as wheen i need.
What do you dislike about the product?
they charge quite a bit for licenses, and their method of calculating cost based both on API calls and no. of services is quite restrictive.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
overall good for API management and AI using cicd solution and also
Breadth of services
Product roadmap and future vision
Product functionality and performance
Strong customer focus
Strong services expertise etc. that way used Kong API Gateway product, also benefit organization.
Breadth of services
Product roadmap and future vision
Product functionality and performance
Strong customer focus
Strong services expertise etc. that way used Kong API Gateway product, also benefit organization.
Custom plugin capability with enhanced high traffic handling and lightweight performance
What is our primary use case?
How has it helped my organization?
Kong has helped us by performing smoothly even when we receive millions of requests, which prevents any latency issues impacting our applications. We have also been able to enhance security by writing our own plugins and easily integrating with various tools and platforms.
What is most valuable?
Kong's most valuable features are its lightweight performance when handling millions of requests and the ability to write custom plugins to enhance security, such as end-to-end encryption, even in the open-source version.
What needs improvement?
The open-source version of Kong does not support a dashboard, which would be very helpful. We use an open-source tool called Konga for basic dashboard needs, but it lacks support. It would be better if there was a comprehensive dashboard included in the open-source community version.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using Kong for about five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Initially, we faced stability issues during an upgrade process due to migration problems with the schema. However, Kong has improved significantly, and maintaining stability is easier now when following their improved documentation and using Helm for deployment.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We've put in place SPA auto-scaling within our Kubernetes deployment, which efficiently handles increased traffic by automatically spinning up new pods, ensuring smooth scalability.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I am currently using a new gateway called Tyk. However, Kong is far better as an open-source tool.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Kong's pricing is reasonable, as the open-source version provides sufficient functionality for a startup like ours without requiring a high initial investment.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We evaluated Tyke as a new gateway solution.
What other advice do I have?
If you are looking for a stable open-source gateway, Kong is a solid choice. It performs well under high traffic with low latency. For newcomers, it is advisable to explore its robust features and ability to manage high TPS effectively.
I'd rate the solution eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
The versatility of Kong Gateway
What do you like best about the product?
Kong Gateway is compatible with most APIs created by vendors with the use of MTLS. It ensures safety of data while allowing the consistent flow of connectivity between servers.
What do you dislike about the product?
As of the moment, nothing to mention on this part as Kong API is working for us perfectly.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Kong Gateway allows MTLS to be dependable by ensuring that data entries are compatible with our server features.
Amazing API Gateway
What do you like best about the product?
It allow us to integrate with various IDP integration using azure, okta , aws cognito and many more.
Provide amazing functionalities of plugin and we can also create custom plugin by building lua code.
Provide developer protal functionalities for the developer to onborad api to show them to the outer World.
Good customer support.
Provide amazing functionalities of plugin and we can also create custom plugin by building lua code.
Provide developer protal functionalities for the developer to onborad api to show them to the outer World.
Good customer support.
What do you dislike about the product?
Documentation is not proper like we debugging takes a lot of time.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
It provide functionality of sso that is really amazing to integrate it with third party provider.
Comprehensive Review for Kong API Gateway
What do you like best about the product?
High Performance and Scalability
Extensive Plugin Architecture
Comprehensive API Management
Strong Security Features
Service Mesh Integration
Active Community and Support
Extensive Plugin Architecture
Comprehensive API Management
Strong Security Features
Service Mesh Integration
Active Community and Support
What do you dislike about the product?
Complexity of Advanced Features
Steep Learning Curve for Custom Plugins
Occasional Gaps in Documentation
High Cost of Enterprise Edition
Potential for Configuration Challenges
Steep Learning Curve for Custom Plugins
Occasional Gaps in Documentation
High Cost of Enterprise Edition
Potential for Configuration Challenges
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
API Management
Problem: Complex and time-consuming management of multiple APIs.
Benefit: Streamlines and automates API management, reducing manual workload.
Security
Problem: Ensuring API security against unauthorized access and threats.
Benefit: Enhances security with features like OAuth2, JWT, IP whitelisting, and data encryption.
Scalability
Problem: Handling high volumes of API requests without performance issues.
Benefit: High-performance architecture ensures scalability and low latency.
Extensibility
Problem: Difficulty in customizing API functionality.
Benefit: Extensive plugin architecture allows for tailored solutions and enhanced functionality.
Service Mesh Integration
Problem: Complex integration of APIs within microservices environments.
Benefit: Seamless compatibility with service mesh architectures and container orchestration platforms.
Problem: Complex and time-consuming management of multiple APIs.
Benefit: Streamlines and automates API management, reducing manual workload.
Security
Problem: Ensuring API security against unauthorized access and threats.
Benefit: Enhances security with features like OAuth2, JWT, IP whitelisting, and data encryption.
Scalability
Problem: Handling high volumes of API requests without performance issues.
Benefit: High-performance architecture ensures scalability and low latency.
Extensibility
Problem: Difficulty in customizing API functionality.
Benefit: Extensive plugin architecture allows for tailored solutions and enhanced functionality.
Service Mesh Integration
Problem: Complex integration of APIs within microservices environments.
Benefit: Seamless compatibility with service mesh architectures and container orchestration platforms.
API Legend
What do you like best about the product?
In my view, the standout feature of the Kong gateway is the simplicity of setting up its data planes, especially with Docker compatibility, making it user-friendly.
Additionally, I love the Kong's custom plugin feature, which allows me to enhance API capabilities according to my needs.
Additionally, I love the Kong's custom plugin feature, which allows me to enhance API capabilities according to my needs.
What do you dislike about the product?
I believe that the Kong API gateway lacks certain features, such as monetization options in the developer portal, which could provide additional benefits for organization
utilizing the portal for API sales. Additionally, I think there should be limits on the number of applications developers can create from the developer portal.
utilizing the portal for API sales. Additionally, I think there should be limits on the number of applications developers can create from the developer portal.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
The Kong API gateway effectively addresses several issues, including:
1. Enabling the addition of headers to my/client request payloads before forwarding them to the upstream, thanks to the request transformer plugin.
2. Safeguarding my service from DDOS attacks through rate-limiting plugins.
3. Facilitating response caching via the Response Cache plugin, thereby reducing response times.
1. Enabling the addition of headers to my/client request payloads before forwarding them to the upstream, thanks to the request transformer plugin.
2. Safeguarding my service from DDOS attacks through rate-limiting plugins.
3. Facilitating response caching via the Response Cache plugin, thereby reducing response times.
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