Higress suits teams managing AI APIs, MCP services, or cloud-native traffic that want a self-hosted gateway.
- Home
- Developer Tools
- API Gateway Software
Best API Gateway Software 2026
API gateways handle the paths through which API requests are authenticated and managed. Compare authentication methods and supported protocols with rate limiting and request transformation to see which listed capabilities suit your APIs. Deployment model can help frame operational fit, while free-plan availability, monthly request limits and paid-from pricing offer cost and capacity points to weigh. Envoy Gateway, Gravitee API Gateway and Kong Gateway are among the options to consider. Use the comparison fields to assess how each gateway aligns with your deployment approach and the traffic controls you require.
Amazon API Gateway
It suits teams building APIs for applications and backend services, especially those working with AWS services.
AndroidiPhone & iPadWeb+1Tyk Gateway
Tyk positions Core for startups and scale-ups, Professional for high-growth teams, and Enterprise for regulated industries and global enterprises.
WebLinuxAPI+1Google Cloud Endpoints
Google Cloud Endpoints suits teams seeking API lifecycle management, access policies, and usage analytics in a hybrid deployment.
WebMacLinux+2Kong Gateway
WebLinuxAPI+1It suits teams that need consistent runtime policies across APIs, including enterprises.
It suits teams managing API release and operation that need environments, versioning, traffic controls, and monitoring.
It suits teams that need to compose API responses, manage traffic, and apply authentication controls in a self-hosted gateway.
Tyk may suit teams that need API lifecycle management across cloud, hybrid, or self-managed deployments.
It suits teams deploying Kubernetes Gateway API resources with NGINX as their traffic data plane.
APISIX suits teams that want to self-manage API, microservice, or LLM traffic on Linux, bare metal, or Kubernetes.
Emissary-ingress suits developers and operators in cloud-native organizations who manage services through Kubernetes.
Envoy Gateway suits teams managing Envoy Proxy as a standalone or Kubernetes-based gateway.
Lura suits developers building an API gateway or proxy in their own Go application.
It suits teams operating Kubernetes-based APIs across cloud, on-premises, or hybrid environments.