Kong vs KrakenD: API Gateways Comparison (2026)

An independent side-by-side comparison of Kong and KrakenD for api gateways buyers — pricing, features, integrations, and how often each is cited by major AI engines.

AI Citation Scorecard

How often each is cited by major AI engines when buyers ask api gateways questions. Last 90 days across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude, and Copilot.

Kong leads overall — 100% cited vs KrakenD 0% across 10 probes.
ChatGPT
KongLeads
1 / 1 probes
100%
Excellent
KrakenD
0 / 1 probes
0%
Invisible
Perplexity
KongLeads
1 / 1 probes
100%
Excellent
KrakenD
0 / 1 probes
0%
Invisible
Gemini
KongLeads
1 / 1 probes
100%
Excellent
KrakenD
0 / 1 probes
0%
Invisible
Claude
KongLeads
1 / 1 probes
100%
Excellent
KrakenD
0 / 1 probes
0%
Invisible
Copilot
KongLeads
1 / 1 probes
100%
Excellent
KrakenD
0 / 1 probes
0%
Invisible
Scale:NoneLowFairStrongExcellent

Probes run hourly; each (engine × query) combo retests every ~3 days.

Pricing

Kong
Starting price
$12/user/month
Free tier
Yes
konghq.com ↗
KrakenD
Starting price
—
Free tier
—
krakend.io ↗

Key Features

Kong
  • ✓API, protocol, and service support
  • ✓Unlimited agents for agent-to-agent traffic
  • ✓AI Observability with token-level tracking
  • ✓Advanced analytics for up to 1M API requests
  • ✓Developer portal support for 2 portals
  • ✓Enterprise-grade security controls
  • ✓Email support during trial
  • ✓Unlimited access to plugins
KrakenD

Feature data is being indexed.

When to choose Kong

Choose Kong if your team prioritizes its strengths over KrakenD's. Full guidance populates as Kong's feature data is indexed.

When to choose KrakenD

Choose KrakenD if your team prioritizes its strengths over Kong's. Full guidance populates as KrakenD's feature data is indexed.

AI visibility profiles

Is one of these your brand?

Get the full report by email: every api gateways buyer question we ask, which engines name you, and who gets named instead.

Kong

konghq.com

KrakenD

krakend.io

Free check

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We ask the buyer questions in this market across ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity and Copilot, and show you who gets named.

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