Expert Guide Editorially reviewed

The Best API Gateways in 2026

AWS bills per million requests. Kong bills a control plane. The open-source ones bill the box you run them on.

Louis CorneloupFounder, Dupple · 840,000+ readers · Updated Aug 2026

Independently researched. No pay-for-placement. 5 tools compared

TL;DR

AWS API Gateway HTTP APIs are about $1 per million requests (AWS's 432 million example is $418.80). REST is $3.50 per million on the first 333 million, plus data transfer. Kong Konnect Plus starts at $25 a month for a serverless control plane, or $200 hybrid. Kong Gateway and Apache APISIX are free to self-host. Tyk has an open-source gateway; the cloud is a separate bill.

API gateways all terminate HTTP and apply auth, rate limits and routing. They do not sell the same unit. AWS meters requests. Kong Konnect meters a control plane, then requests after a million. Self-hosted Kong and APISIX meter nothing but CPU.

A comparison that lines up $1, $25 and $0 as if they were the same SKU is how a team picks the wrong bill.

The useful question is who runs the data plane, because that is what you are paying for when the traffic is real.

Top Picks

Based on features, real-world fit, and value for money.

Best API Gateways in 2026: 5 tools compared, updated Aug 2026
Tool	Pricing	Best for
AWS API Gateway	HTTP APIs about $1 per million requests. AWS example: 432 million HTTP requests in a month is $418.80. REST APIs $3.50…	APIs that already live on AWS and want a managed endpoint without running a proxy
Kong Konnect	Plus: Serverless control plane $25/month. Hybrid $200/month. Dedicated Cloud Gateway $500/month plus $0.15/GB. 1…	Teams that want Kong's plugin model with a hosted control plane
Kong Gateway (open source)	Free. Apache-licensed open source. You pay for the machines and for any Konnect or Enterprise add-on you later attach…	Teams that will run the proxy themselves and keep config in Git
Apache APISIX	Free. Apache License 2.0. API7 Cloud and API7 Enterprise are separate commercial products; confirm those prices with…	Teams that want a fast, etcd-backed gateway without a Kong-shaped bill
Tyk	Tyk Gateway is open source. Tyk Cloud and licensed enterprise are commercial. Confirm current Cloud dollars on…	Teams that like Tyk's middleware model and will either self-host OSS or pay for Cloud

Pricing read from each vendor's own published pricing page, checked Aug 2026. Every vendor here publishes a price.

Lowest monthly figure each vendor publishes, checked Aug 2026. A tilde marks a figure the vendor states approximately. Per-seat and usage charges can sit on top of it. 1 of 5 does not publish a comparable monthly price and is left out rather than estimated.

AWS API Gateway

Top Pick

Best for: APIs that already live on AWS and want a managed endpoint without running a proxy

PricingHTTP APIs about $1 per million requests. AWS example: 432 million HTTP requests in a month is $418.80. REST APIs $3.50 per million on the first 333 million, then volume tiers, plus data transfer at $0.09/GB in US East. Free tier: 1 million REST and 1 million HTTP requests per month for 12 months. Checked 26 August 2026.

+Published request math, including a worked monthly example

+No proxy fleet to patch

+Free tier is enough to learn the product before traffic is real

−REST is more than 3x HTTP on the first tier, so the API type you pick is the price

−Data transfer is a second meter people forget

Visit AWS API Gateway →

Kong Konnect

Best for: Teams that want Kong's plugin model with a hosted control plane

PricingPlus: Serverless control plane $25/month. Hybrid $200/month. Dedicated Cloud Gateway $500/month plus $0.15/GB. 1 million requests included, then $200 per additional million on published Plus SKUs. Kong Gateway OSS is free. Enterprise is sales-quoted. Checked 26 August 2026.

+Same plugin model as OSS Kong, so you are not rewriting config to go hosted

+Plus publishes control-plane and overage numbers, which most API management suites do not

+Hybrid lets you keep the data plane on your nodes

−The $25 plan and the $200 plan are different products. Do not budget the cheap one for hybrid

−Request overage at $200 per million can beat AWS HTTP on a busy public API

Visit Kong Konnect →

Kong Gateway (open source)

Best for: Teams that will run the proxy themselves and keep config in Git

PricingFree. Apache-licensed open source. You pay for the machines and for any Konnect or Enterprise add-on you later attach. Checked 26 August 2026.

+No per-million fee

+Huge plugin list and a lot of existing examples

+Declarative config fits CI

−You patch, scale and observe it

−Admin GUI and some enterprise plugins are not in OSS

Visit Kong Gateway (open source) →

Apache APISIX

Best for: Teams that want a fast, etcd-backed gateway without a Kong-shaped bill

PricingFree. Apache License 2.0. API7 Cloud and API7 Enterprise are separate commercial products; confirm those prices with API7. Checked 26 August 2026.

+Genuinely free, with a plugin model that covers auth and limits

+etcd config suits Kubernetes shops

+No vendor request meter on the Apache build

−You operate etcd and the data plane

−Commercial features live in API7, which is a different quote

Visit Apache APISIX →

Tyk

Best for: Teams that like Tyk's middleware model and will either self-host OSS or pay for Cloud

PricingTyk Gateway is open source. Tyk Cloud and licensed enterprise are commercial. Confirm current Cloud dollars on tyk.io/pricing. We did not treat a third-party figure as a quote. Checked 26 August 2026.

+Open-source gateway you can run without a license key

+Analytics and a dashboard exist in the commercial line if you want them

+Go codebase is easy to read if you will patch it

−Cloud pricing did not get a locked public number in this pass

−OSS versus Cloud feature split is easy to miss in a demo

Visit Tyk →

What it is

An API gateway sits in front of services and handles TLS, auth, routing, rate limits and sometimes transformation. The category split is simple. Cloud-native gateways are a managed endpoint you point DNS at. Self-hosted gateways are a process you run next to the services. Most vendors now sell both: an OSS binary, and a control plane that bills monthly.

Why it matters

The hidden meter is not features. It is requests versus control plane. A quiet internal API on AWS still pays per million. A noisy public API on self-hosted Kong pays for the instance. Konnect Plus includes 1 million requests, then $200 per extra million on some SKUs.

Those units do not convert cleanly, which is why a "cheapest gateway" table is usually wrong.

Key features to look for

Billing unit

Per million requests, a monthly control plane, or the VM you already have. This is the invoice.

Who runs the data plane

AWS runs theirs. Self-hosted Kong and APISIX run on your nodes. Hybrid Konnect splits the two.

Auth plugins

JWT, API keys, OIDC, mTLS. A gateway without the plugin you need is a reverse proxy with extra steps.

Rate limits and quotas

Whether limits are per consumer, per route and consistent across instances. This is the feature teams actually turn on first.

Config as code

Declarative YAML or Terraform versus a UI that drifts. CI only works if the gateway is a file.

Mistakes to avoid

×Picking REST API Gateway by default on AWS. HTTP APIs are the $1-per-million product. REST is $3.50 before transfer.

×Budgeting Kong Konnect at $25 when you need hybrid or a dedicated cloud gateway. Those are $200 and $500 starting points.

×Calling a self-hosted gateway free after you ignore the people who keep it up.

Expert tips

→Estimate AWS from request type and transfer, not from the homepage. REST plus $0.09/GB changes the story on large payloads.

→On Konnect, read whether the SKU is serverless control, hybrid or dedicated cloud gateway before you compare it to AWS.

→Start on OSS Kong or APISIX if traffic is internal and you already run Kubernetes. Pay the hosted control plane when the admin API becomes the bottleneck.

The bottom line

Use AWS API Gateway HTTP APIs when the services are already on AWS and you want a published per-million price. Use Kong Konnect when you want Kong plugins and a hosted control plane, and budget hybrid or dedicated if that is what the demo used.

Run Kong Gateway or Apache APISIX yourself when you will staff the proxy. Treat Tyk Cloud as a separate quote from the free Tyk gateway.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best free API gateway?

Kong Gateway OSS, Apache APISIX and Tyk Gateway are all free to self-host. You pay for compute and for the person who operates them. None of those is a managed AWS endpoint.

How much does AWS API Gateway cost?

Checked 26 August 2026: HTTP APIs about $1 per million requests (AWS example: 432 million requests is $418.80). REST $3.50 per million on the first 333 million, plus data transfer. Free tier is 1 million REST and 1 million HTTP requests per month for 12 months.

How much does Kong Konnect cost?

Checked 26 August 2026: Plus serverless control plane $25 a month, hybrid $200, dedicated cloud gateway $500 plus $0.15/GB. Published Plus SKUs include 1 million requests, then $200 per extra million. Enterprise is sales-quoted. OSS Kong is free.

API gateway versus API security tool?

A gateway routes and limits. A WAF or scanner inspects for abuse. You often want both. They are not the same invoice. See Cyberpresso's API security list if the job is inspection.

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