Index › Developer platform › API gateways › Enterprise › September 2026 Edition

API gateways for enterprise buyers

Asked as “API gateway”, and as “API gateway and traffic management tool”, on behalf of an enterprise B2B company. 47 first choices recorded across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, twelve models each.

Standing

Kong Gateway

Clear leader

45% of first choices, clear leader.

ShowinginAll 67 categories in the September 2026 Edition →

By buyer segment

The same question asked on behalf of a different buyer. Each standing is computed within its segment; they sit side by side and are never added together.

Small business

Zuplo43%Clear leaderStanding →Mid-market

Kong Gateway61%Clear leaderStanding →Enterprise

Kong Gateway45%Clear leaderThis page

01The standing

Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, over all twelve models, for an enterprise B2B company. Ordered by share.

ProductFirst-choice shareNegative rateLabelsQuadrant

Kong Gateway17%65endorsed leader

Apigee25%63criticized default

Tyk6%31accepted challenger

MuleSoft Anypoint Platform20%35accepted challenger

Amazon API Gateway34%56criticized challenger

Zuplo9%11accepted challenger

Show the five products at 0%, ordered by negative rate

Azure API Management15%46accepted challenger

NGINX10%10accepted challenger

Apache APISIX7%15accepted challenger

Gloo Gateway0%11accepted challenger

IBM API Connect0%11accepted challenger

Bars are the share of first choices, 0 to 100Every product with at least 10 labels here. Every product name links to its vendor page.

Head to head

Kong Gateway vs Zuplo Kong Gateway vs Tyk Zuplo vs Tyk

Recommended versus criticized

Every product with at least 10 labels here, on both axes. The 30% line names a quadrant, not the verdict above: that one needs more than 40%.

Criticized challengerCriticized default

Negative label rate →

Accepted challengerEndorsed leader

0%First-choice share → · lines at 30% share and 25% negative60%

Key

Kong Gateway45%

Apigee36%

Tyk9%

MuleSoft Anypoint Platform2%

Amazon API Gateway2%

Zuplo2%

Azure API Management0%

Apache APISIX0%

IBM API Connect0%

Gloo Gateway0%

NGINX0%

02What they warned about

Two of twelve models held their first choice under the paraphrase. Claude Haiku 4.5, Gemini 3.5 Flash, Grok 4.1 Fast, Mistral Small, DeepSeek V4 Flash, Llama 4 Maverick, Qwen 3.7 Flash, Kimi K2, GLM 4.7 FlashX and MiniMax M2.5 changed. A high negative share on a product with few labels is a warning. A low share on a product with many labels is salience, not sentiment.

Amazon API Gateway

34%

19 of 56 labels negative · 10 of 12 models · 7 hard negative

“avoiding **consumption-based (pay-per-request) pricing**... per-request billing (like AWS API Gateway or Google Apigee) highly unpredictable and cost-prohibitive” Gemini 3.5 Flash, budget prompt

Apigee

25%

16 of 63 labels negative · 9 of 12 models · 7 hard negative

“caution around **Apigee-style legacy enterprise gateways**... **Apigee and other older gateways** ... are built on outdated approaches and are not well suited to modern cloud-native architectures” Perplexity Sonar, negative prompt

Kong Gateway

17%

11 of 65 labels negative · 8 of 12 models · 1 hard negative

“EOL as of September 2025; entered sunset support period ending September 2026” Kimi K2, negative prompt

Azure API Management

15%

7 of 46 labels negative · 6 of 12 models · 1 hard negative

“Why Avoid Pure Usage-Based Models? ... Azure API Management | Consumption | ~$3.50/M calls” Kimi K2, budget prompt

03What they cite

Citations exist only for the models that return a source list: twelve of the twelve in this edition, and all six flagship models on the expanded tier.

Sites the answers cite

60 of 72 answers in this category came back with a source list, from 12 of 12 models: citations where the model returns them, or the search results it consulted. 5 of those lists are Google grounding redirects that name no site and are left out of the counts. 822 links across 211 sites, every framing counted. Ranked by the number of answers carrying the site or page.

zuplo.com

vendor site · Zuplo38 answers · 73 citations · 10 models

api7.ai

28 answers · 41 citations · 10 models

toolradar.com

28 answers · 28 citations · 9 models

geekflare.com

25 answers · 25 citations · 10 models

dupple.com

24 answers · 24 citations · 8 models

digitalapi.ai

vendor site · DigitalAPI22 answers · 32 citations · 7 models

guideflow.com

vendor site · Guideflow20 answers · 21 citations · 8 models

konghq.com

18 answers · 22 citations · 8 models

gartner.com

16 answers · 16 citations · 9 models

gravitee.io

vendor site · Gravitee13 answers · 19 citations · 6 models

tyk.io

vendor site · Tyk12 answers · 17 citations · 8 models

g2.com

11 answers · 14 citations · 8 models

Pages the answers cite

The ten pages named in the most answers, by full address. A page here is one the models returned with a recommendation, not one the index endorses.

toolradar.com/guides/best-api-gateways

28 answers · 9 models

geekflare.com/guides/best-api-gateways

25 answers · 10 models

dupple.com/learn/best-api-gateways

24 answers · 8 models

zuplo.com/learning-center/api-gateway-pricing-comparison-2026

21 answers · 8 models

api7.ai/top-11-api-gateways-platforms-compared

16 answers · 8 models

guideflow.com/blog/api-gateway-software

13 answers · 7 models

konghq.com/blog/enterprise/kong-vs-aws-api-gateway

13 answers · 7 models

gartner.com/reviews/market/api-management

12 answers · 9 models

digitalapi.ai/blogs/best-api-gateway

11 answers · 7 models

enterprise-software-review.contentwave.net/article/kong-vs-apigee-x-vs-aws-…

11 answers · 5 models

04How they answered

Six framings of the same buying question, each sent to every model in a fresh session with search on. One row per model, so a row shows whether it held its answer under rewording, what it named when cost was the constraint, and what it argued against. Computed from the raw judge labels.

ModelDirect“What is the best API gateway for an enterprise B2B company?”Paraphrase“Which API gateway and traffic management tool would you recommend to a large B2B company with thousands of employees?”Comparative“What are the top enterprise-grade API gateways and how do they differ?”Budget-constrained“What is the best API gateway for a large company that needs predictable total cost across thousands of users?”Scale-constrained“We are a 5,000 person company with SSO, SOC 2 and procurement review requirements evaluating a API gateway. What should we look at?”Negative“Which API gateways should a large enterprise avoid or be cautious about?”

Claude Haiku 4.5Kong Gateway, MuleSoft Anypoint Platform

One alternative

Amazon API Gateway

Apigee, Kong GatewayChanged

Two alternatives

Amazon API Gateway, NGINX

no first choiceApigee, Graviteeno first choiceagainst: Amazon API Gateway, Azure API Management, Kong Gateway

GPT-5.4 miniApigee

Three alternatives

Amazon API Gateway, Azure API Management, Kong Gateway

ApigeeHeld

Three alternatives

Azure API Management, Kong Gateway, MuleSoft Omni Gateway

against: Amazon API Gatewayno first choice

Seven alternatives

Amazon API Gateway, Apigee, Azure API Management, IBM API Connect, Kong Gateway, MuleSoft Anypoint Platform, Tyk

Apigee

One alternative

Tyk

against: Amazon API Gateway, Google Cloud API Gatewayno first choicenothing named

Gemini 3.5 FlashApigee

Four alternatives

Azure API Management, Kong Gateway, MuleSoft Anypoint Platform, Tyk

against: Amazon API GatewayKong GatewayChanged

Three alternatives

Apigee, Axway Amplify, MuleSoft Anypoint Platform

Kong Gateway

Six alternatives

Amazon API Gateway, Apigee, Azure API Management, IBM API Connect, MuleSoft Anypoint Platform, Tyk

Tyk

Four alternatives

Azure API Management, Gloo Gateway, KrakenD, Traefik Hub

against: Amazon API Gateway, ApigeeKong Gateway

Two alternatives

Cloudflare API Gateway, Tyk

against: Apigee, MuleSoft Anypoint Platformagainst: Akamai Edge, Amazon API Gateway, Apigee, Azure API Management, Broadcom Layer7 API Gateway, Express Gateway, Google Cloud API Gateway, MuleSoft Anypoint Platform, Netflix Zuul, Software AG webMethods, Spring Cloud Gateway, Zuplo

Perplexity SonarKong Gateway

Five alternatives

Amazon API Gateway, Apigee, Azure API Management, IBM API Connect, MuleSoft Anypoint Platform

Kong GatewayHeld

Three alternatives

Amazon API Gateway, Apigee, Azure API Management

Apigee

Seven alternatives

Amazon API Gateway, Azure API Management, Gravitee, IBM API Connect, Kong Gateway, MuleSoft Anypoint Platform, Tyk

Amazon API Gateway, Apigeeagainst: Kong Gatewayno first choiceagainst: Amazon API Gateway, Apigee, Broadcom Layer7 API Gateway, Kong Gateway, Red Hat 3scale

Grok 4.1 FastApigee

Five alternatives

Amazon API Gateway, Azure API Management, IBM API Connect, Kong Gateway, MuleSoft Anypoint Platform

Kong GatewayChanged

Three alternatives

Amazon API Gateway, Azure API Management, Gloo Gateway

against: Apigeeno first choiceKong Gateway, Tyk

Three alternatives

Apigee, Azure API Management, Gravitee

against: Amazon API Gateway, MuleSoft Anypoint Platformno first choice

Three alternatives

Kong Gateway, Tyk, Zuplo

against: Amazon API Gateway, Apigee, Azure API Management, Kong Gateway, MuleSoft Anypoint Platform

Mistral SmallApigee, Kong Gateway

Three alternatives

Amazon API Gateway, Azure API Management, MuleSoft Anypoint Platform

Kong GatewayChanged

Two alternatives

Apigee, Azure API Management

Kong Gateway

Six alternatives

Amazon API Gateway, Apache APISIX, Apigee, Azure API Management, MuleSoft Anypoint Platform, Tyk

Apigee

One alternative

Kong Gateway

no first choicenothing named

DeepSeek V4 FlashKong Gateway

Four alternatives

Amazon API Gateway, Apigee, Azure API Management, MuleSoft Anypoint Platform

ApigeeChanged

Two alternatives

Kong Gateway, MuleSoft Anypoint Platform

Apigee, Kong Gateway

Five alternatives

Amazon API Gateway, Apache APISIX, Azure API Management, Tyk, WSO2 API Manager

Kong Gateway

Three alternatives

Apache APISIX, MuleSoft Anypoint Platform, Zuplo

against: Amazon API Gateway, Apigee, Azure API Management, Kong Gatewayno first choiceagainst: Amazon API Gateway, Apigee

Llama 4 Maverickno first choiceTykChanged

Five alternatives

Amazon API Gateway, Apigee, HAProxy, Kong Gateway, MuleSoft Anypoint Platform

no first choiceApigee, Kong GatewayZuplo

Two alternatives

Gloo Gateway, LLMGateway.io

against: Apigee

Qwen 3.7 FlashApigee, Kong Gateway

Two alternatives

Amazon API Gateway, Azure API Management

against: MuleSoft Anypoint PlatformApigeeChanged

Three alternatives

Azure API Management, Kong Gateway, MuleSoft Anypoint Platform

Kong Gateway

Six alternatives

Amazon API Gateway, Apache APISIX, Apigee, Azure API Management, MuleSoft Anypoint Platform, Tyk

Kong Gateway

Two alternatives

Azure API Management, Tyk

against: Amazon API Gatewayno first choiceagainst: Amazon API Gatewayagainst: Amazon API Gateway, Apigee, Azure API Management, Google Cloud Endpoints, Kong Gateway, MuleSoft Anypoint Platform, Tyk

Kimi K2Kong Gateway

Six alternatives

Amazon API Gateway, Apache APISIX, Apigee, Azure API Management, Gravitee, MuleSoft Anypoint Platform

ApigeeChanged

Three alternatives

Amazon API Gateway, Azure API Management, Kong Gateway

Kong Gateway

Four alternatives

Amazon API Gateway, Apigee, Azure API Management, MuleSoft Anypoint Platform

Kong Gateway

One alternative

Tyk

against: Amazon API Gateway, Apigee, Azure API ManagementKong Gateway, Tyk

Three alternatives

Amazon API Gateway, Apigee, Azure API Management

against: Amazon API Gateway, Apigee, Azure API Management, Kong Gateway, MuleSoft Anypoint Platform, Tyk

GLM 4.7 FlashXApigee

Six alternatives

Amazon API Gateway, Apache APISIX / API7, Azure API Management, IBM API Connect, Kong Gateway, MuleSoft Anypoint Platform

Kong GatewayChanged

Three alternatives

Apache APISIX, Apigee, Azure API Management

Kong Gateway

Five alternatives

API7 Enterprise, Amazon API Gateway, Apigee, Azure API Management, Tyk

Cloudflare API Gateway

One alternative

Azure API Management

against: Amazon API Gateway, Apigee, Kong Gateway, Traefik Hubno first choiceagainst: Amazon API Gateway, Apache APISIX, Kong Gateway

MiniMax M2.5Kong Gateway

Four alternatives

Amazon API Gateway, Apigee, Azure API Management, Gravitee

Apigee, Kong GatewayChangedno first choiceno first choiceno first choiceagainst: Amazon API Gateway, Apigee, HAProxy, Kong Gateway, NGINX

Bold is the first choiceAlternatives are counted; the count opens them.What the answer argued against

05The record

One row per call: the version string exactly as returned, whether the model searched, sources cited, and latency. Full answer text is in the free responses file. Download the record

Seventy-two rows: every prompt, every model, every answer.

Prompt	Model	Version string	Time (UTC)	Searched	Sources	Latency
Direct recommendation	Claude Haiku 4.5	`claude-haiku-4-5-20251001`	2026-09-17 13:29	no	0	4 s
Direct recommendation	GPT-5.4 mini	`gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17`	2026-09-17 14:11	no	0	6 s
Direct recommendation	Gemini 3.5 Flash	`gemini-3.5-flash`	2026-09-17 13:48	yes	18	22 s
Direct recommendation	Perplexity Sonar	`sonar`	2026-09-17 11:46	yes	20	5 s
Direct recommendation	Grok 4.1 Fast	`spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex`	2026-09-17 11:11	yes	26	15 s
Direct recommendation	Mistral Small	`mistral/mistral-small via mistral`	2026-09-17 13:02	yes	10	10 s
Direct recommendation	DeepSeek V4 Flash	`deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks`	2026-09-17 10:20	yes	14	20 s
Direct recommendation	Llama 4 Maverick	`meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock`	2026-09-17 13:19	yes	5	3 s
Direct recommendation	Qwen 3.7 Flash	`alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba`	2026-09-17 10:06	no	0	32 s
Direct recommendation	Kimi K2	`moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita`	2026-09-17 12:56	yes	10	48 s
Direct recommendation	GLM 4.7 FlashX	`zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai`	2026-09-17 10:21	yes	25	414 s
Direct recommendation	MiniMax M2.5	`minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax`	2026-09-17 14:14	yes	10	28 s
Paraphrase	Claude Haiku 4.5	`claude-haiku-4-5-20251001`	2026-09-17 12:19	no	0	5 s
Paraphrase	GPT-5.4 mini	`gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17`	2026-09-17 11:31	yes	6	9 s
Paraphrase	Gemini 3.5 Flash	`gemini-3.5-flash`	2026-09-17 09:38	yes	12	29 s
Paraphrase	Perplexity Sonar	`sonar`	2026-09-17 11:24	yes	20	5 s
Paraphrase	Grok 4.1 Fast	`spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex`	2026-09-17 10:46	yes	15	13 s
Paraphrase	Mistral Small	`mistral/mistral-small via mistral`	2026-09-17 09:58	no	0	8 s
Paraphrase	DeepSeek V4 Flash	`deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks`	2026-09-17 13:27	yes	12	20 s
Paraphrase	Llama 4 Maverick	`meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock`	2026-09-17 10:35	yes	5	3 s
Paraphrase	Qwen 3.7 Flash	`alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba`	2026-09-17 09:28	no	0	41 s
Paraphrase	Kimi K2	`moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita`	2026-09-17 11:01	yes	25	96 s
Paraphrase	GLM 4.7 FlashX	`zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai`	2026-09-17 14:13	yes	15	37 s
Paraphrase	MiniMax M2.5	`minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax`	2026-09-17 10:40	yes	10	68 s
Comparative	Claude Haiku 4.5	`claude-haiku-4-5-20251001`	2026-09-17 12:52	yes	15	13 s
Comparative	GPT-5.4 mini	`gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17`	2026-09-17 12:14	yes	7	15 s
Comparative	Gemini 3.5 Flash	`gemini-3.5-flash`	2026-09-17 09:47	yes	19	26 s
Comparative	Perplexity Sonar	`sonar`	2026-09-17 12:43	yes	20	8 s
Comparative	Grok 4.1 Fast	`spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex`	2026-09-17 12:42	yes	32	14 s
Comparative	Mistral Small	`mistral/mistral-small via mistral`	2026-09-17 14:14	yes	5	9 s
Comparative	DeepSeek V4 Flash	`deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks`	2026-09-17 12:56	yes	14	26 s
Comparative	Llama 4 Maverick	`meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock`	2026-09-17 10:05	yes	5	3 s
Comparative	Qwen 3.7 Flash	`alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba`	2026-09-17 12:11	yes	5	43 s
Comparative	Kimi K2	`moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita`	2026-09-17 09:23	yes	12	36 s
Comparative	GLM 4.7 FlashX	`zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai`	2026-09-17 13:36	yes	33	201 s
Comparative	MiniMax M2.5	`minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax`	2026-09-17 13:57	yes	5	18 s
Budget constrained	Claude Haiku 4.5	`claude-haiku-4-5-20251001`	2026-09-17 12:49	yes	17	10 s
Budget constrained	GPT-5.4 mini	`gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17`	2026-09-17 11:34	yes	4	5 s
Budget constrained	Gemini 3.5 Flash	`gemini-3.5-flash`	2026-09-17 10:02	yes	17	21 s
Budget constrained	Perplexity Sonar	`sonar`	2026-09-17 11:29	yes	20	5 s
Budget constrained	Grok 4.1 Fast	`spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex`	2026-09-17 10:21	yes	33	21 s
Budget constrained	Mistral Small	`mistral/mistral-small via mistral`	2026-09-17 10:42	yes	5	5 s
Budget constrained	DeepSeek V4 Flash	`deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks`	2026-09-17 09:54	yes	8	16 s
Budget constrained	Llama 4 Maverick	`meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock`	2026-09-17 09:59	yes	5	3 s
Budget constrained	Qwen 3.7 Flash	`alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba`	2026-09-17 11:55	no	0	46 s
Budget constrained	Kimi K2	`moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita`	2026-09-17 13:51	yes	13	34 s
Budget constrained	GLM 4.7 FlashX	`zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai`	2026-09-17 09:35	yes	23	74 s
Budget constrained	MiniMax M2.5	`minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax`	2026-09-17 11:26	yes	7	26 s
Scale constrained	Claude Haiku 4.5	`claude-haiku-4-5-20251001`	2026-09-17 11:26	no	0	6 s
Scale constrained	GPT-5.4 mini	`gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17`	2026-09-17 11:28	no	0	5 s
Scale constrained	Gemini 3.5 Flash	`gemini-3.5-flash`	2026-09-17 13:05	no	0	16 s
Scale constrained	Perplexity Sonar	`sonar`	2026-09-17 12:16	yes	20	8 s
Scale constrained	Grok 4.1 Fast	`spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex`	2026-09-17 13:13	yes	14	12 s
Scale constrained	Mistral Small	`mistral/mistral-small via mistral`	2026-09-17 12:23	no	0	8 s
Scale constrained	DeepSeek V4 Flash	`deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks`	2026-09-17 10:11	yes	28	28 s
Scale constrained	Llama 4 Maverick	`meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock`	2026-09-17 13:13	yes	5	5 s
Scale constrained	Qwen 3.7 Flash	`alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba`	2026-09-17 13:45	no	0	45 s
Scale constrained	Kimi K2	`moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita`	2026-09-17 13:00	yes	15	78 s
Scale constrained	GLM 4.7 FlashX	`zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai`	2026-09-17 14:12	yes	28	126 s
Scale constrained	MiniMax M2.5	`minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax`	2026-09-17 09:35	yes	5	23 s
Negative framing	Claude Haiku 4.5	`claude-haiku-4-5-20251001`	2026-09-17 13:44	yes	18	11 s
Negative framing	GPT-5.4 mini	`gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17`	2026-09-17 13:17	yes	5	6 s
Negative framing	Gemini 3.5 Flash	`gemini-3.5-flash`	2026-09-17 12:16	yes	10	26 s
Negative framing	Perplexity Sonar	`sonar`	2026-09-17 14:09	yes	20	6 s
Negative framing	Grok 4.1 Fast	`spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex`	2026-09-17 10:39	yes	24	17 s
Negative framing	Mistral Small	`mistral/mistral-small via mistral`	2026-09-17 11:02	yes	5	5 s
Negative framing	DeepSeek V4 Flash	`deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks`	2026-09-17 09:41	yes	29	21 s
Negative framing	Llama 4 Maverick	`meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock`	2026-09-17 12:49	yes	5	3 s
Negative framing	Qwen 3.7 Flash	`alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba`	2026-09-17 10:33	yes	20	81 s
Negative framing	Kimi K2	`moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita`	2026-09-17 13:59	yes	30	51 s
Negative framing	GLM 4.7 FlashX	`zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai`	2026-09-17 13:34	yes	14	53 s
Negative framing	MiniMax M2.5	`minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax`	2026-09-17 10:56	yes	21	88 s

Normalization in this category

Every judgment call made between the raw labels and the numbers above, listed so it is visible and reversible.

Category-scoped readings

Broadcom Layer7 read as Broadcom Layer7 API Gateway

Gloo read as Gloo Gateway

Kong read as Kong Gateway

Kong (Enterprise Edition) read as Kong Gateway

Kong (Konnect / Ingress Controller) read as Kong Gateway

Kong (self-managed) read as Kong Gateway

Kong Enterprise read as Kong Gateway

Kong Enterprise (Kong Gateway + Kong Konnect) read as Kong Gateway

Kong Enterprise (Kong Konnect) read as Kong Gateway

Layer7 read as Broadcom Layer7 API Gateway

MuleSoft read as MuleSoft Anypoint Platform

MuleSoft (Anypoint Platform) read as MuleSoft Anypoint Platform

MuleSoft (Salesforce) read as MuleSoft Anypoint Platform

Unresolved, counted raw

ALB

Akamai Edge

Cotocus

Emissary-ingress

Linkerd

MuleSoft Omni Gateway

Solo/Envoy

composio.dev

Discontinued, still offered

No shut-down product was recommended here.

API gateways for enterprise buyers

By buyer segment

01The standing

Recommended versus criticized

02What they warned about

03What they cite

Sites the answers cite

Pages the answers cite

04How they answered

05The record

Normalization in this category

Also in developer platform