APIs are the backbone of modern software. Managing them at scale requires dedicated platforms for security, rate limiting, analytics, and developer experience.
Platform Comparison
- Kong Gateway: open-source leader, self-hosted or cloud ($0-$350/month)
- Google Apigee: enterprise-grade, complex but powerful ($500+/month)
- AWS API Gateway: best for AWS-native, pay-per-request ($3.50/million)
- Cloudflare API Gateway: emerging, integrated with CDN
Kong offers the best balance of power and flexibility for most teams. Apigee is overkill for anything under 100 APIs. AWS Gateway is the simplest choice if you are all-in on AWS.
