Tyk vs Kong – evaluating API management alternatives
In the rapidly evolving world of API management, choosing the right platform can be the difference between leading the market or lagging behind. Tyk doesn’t just offer an alternative to Kong; it redefines what you should expect from your API management platform.
Choose Tyk: modern, collaborative, and customer-centric API management
When selecting an API management solution, the decision reaches beyond just technical capabilities—it encompasses the philosophy, support, and the value a platform brings to your enterprise. Here’s why Tyk is your best choice:
Best-in-class;
exceptional support
Tyk leads in API management with top ratings on G2 and Gartner Peer Insights. We prioritise exceptional support, enhancing user experiences, and exceeding expectations to advance your success beyond just solving problems.
User-friendly and
secure solutions
Tyk simplifies API management with its intuitive, straightforward setup – no extras needed. Security is at the core of our platform, ensuring robust and reliable protection at every layer.
Flexible
cost-effective
Tyk offers cost-effective, cloud-native API management, adaptable to your servers, the public cloud, or as multi-cloud SaaS. Our pricing plans grow with you, ensuring you only pay for what you need. Tailored to fit any business size, our flexible solutions adapt as you grow.
Choose Tyk for a partnership that grows with you, backed by a community and a team committed to your technological and business success. Experience the Tyk difference—a modern, open, and user-focused platform that truly values its customers.
| Feature | Benefit | Tyk | Kong |
|---|---|---|---|
| Native support for Kubernetes | Secure, powerful API management for Kubernetes environments. |  |
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| Lightweight, ultra-performant, low overhead, cloud native gateway | Enables you to manage your APIs efficiently, without extra layers of complication over the top of your existing stack. | |
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| Fits seamlessly into CI/CD pipelines | Delivers a slick experience that flows from development to operations without a hitch. | |
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| Tyk owns the entire stack, all the way down | Purposefully designed, built and optimised for solving the challenges of API management. Not dependent on Nginx or third party technologies. | |
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| Fully open source, not open core | No functionality hidden behind a paywall. | |
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| Mature, fully centralised, multi-data centre, multi-cloud, offering | Industry-leading deployment flexibility. Can be implemented across large, complex infrastructures, distributed clouds and geographies with ease, speed and resilience. | |
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| All Gateway features available out-of-the box | Faster and easier implementation, no hidden costs or limited functionality – simply a better experience overall. | |
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| Supports GraphQL federation natively | Allows the easy translation of existing services and data sources into GraphQL subgraphs and supergraphs. | |
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| Next generation service orchestration engine | Take all your services – REST, GraphQL, Kafka, MQTT – and publish them to a service catalogue. Stitch them together and consume through a single powerful GraphQL query language. | |
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| World’s first GraphQL developer portal | Delivers developer-driven solutions through modern, lightweight, cloud native thinking. | |
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| Programmatic enterprise-grade RBAC and ABAC | Out of the box integration enables large teams to manage access and governance securely and at scale. | |
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| Extensibility in any language, not just Lua or JS | Delivers ultimate flexibility – implement without changing your architecture or ways of working. | |
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| Licence cost not tied to usage | Self-managed licences are available on a fixed fee, not “per API call.” Lower costs for your business – no huge increase in cost as you scale up. | |
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| Self-serve trial for enterprise | Install and use the product at your leisure, be sure Tyk meets your needs. | |
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Need more convincing?
- Named Leader in Gartner’s®
2023 Magic Quadrant™ for APIM 
Tyk vs Kong – Gartner reviews
Based on verified reviews from real users in the API management market, Kong has a rating on Gartner of 4.5 stars with 164 reviews. Tyk has a rating of 4.8 stars with 77 reviews. Have a look at the Gartner Peer Insights comparison page for more about Kong vs Tyk.
SEE HOW TYK STACKS UP
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FAQs
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What is Kong?
Kong provides a range of API management tools, including a software as a service (SaaS) API management platform, enterprise-grade API management solution, API gateway, service mesh and ingress controller for Kubernetes. There’s also a development platform for building and testing APIs, along with various plugins for extending Kong’s functionality.
Users can manage their APIs centrally using Kong, across different clouds, gateways, protocols, teams and architectures, while enjoying real-time visibility through a single control plane.
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What should you consider most when choosing an API gateway?
Choosing the right API gateway is crucial. We’ve looked at this in depth in relation to choosing an API management layer, examining critical factors and why they are so important. In headline terms, four considerations are key to choosing an API gateway. These are:
- Security – your gateway should deliver robust security that keeps your APIs and data safe against the latest threats.
- Reliability – whether you’re using APIs internally, externally or both, reliable performance is a must.
- Scalability – business growth often comes in sudden spurts, meaning you need an API gateway that can handle rapid scaling with ease.
- Integrations – your API gateway needs to play nicely with existing systems and microservices, as well as those you’ll be implementing in future, all without creating headaches for your hard-working IT people.
These factors mean you can manage your APIs seamlessly while keeping everyone from regulators to customers using your API products happy. Of course, outstanding customer support is important too – there’s plenty of peace of mind in knowing a dedicated team of experts has your back.
By choosing an API gateway that is secure, reliable, scalable and easy to integrate, you’re laying the foundations for successful API management. And by doing that, you’re positioning your business for future growth.
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