# API gateways for enterprise buyers: what AI models recommend, September 2026

IT AI Recommendation Index, September 2026 Edition. Asked as "API gateway" and as "API gateway and traffic management tool", six framings each, to twelve models with search on, on behalf of an enterprise B2B company. Page: https://it-ai-index.com/developer/api-gateways/enterprise/

**Standing:** Kong Gateway leads with 45% of first choices; verdict clear leader. 47 first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts.

## First-choice share

| # | Product | Share | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kong Gateway | 45% | 17% | 65 |
| 2 | Apigee | 36% | 25% | 63 |
| 3 | Tyk | 9% | 6% | 31 |
| 4 | MuleSoft Anypoint Platform | 2% | 20% | 35 |
| 5 | Amazon API Gateway | 2% | 34% | 56 |
| 6 | Zuplo | 2% | 9% | 11 |
| 7 | Azure API Management | 0% | 15% | 46 |
| 8 | Apache APISIX | 0% | 7% | 15 |
| 9 | IBM API Connect | 0% | 0% | 11 |
| 10 | Gloo Gateway | 0% | 0% | 11 |
| 11 | NGINX | 0% | 10% | 10 |

## Each model's first choice on the direct prompt

- Claude Haiku 4.5: Kong Gateway, MuleSoft Anypoint Platform; alternatives Amazon API Gateway
- GPT-5.4 mini: Apigee; alternatives Amazon API Gateway, Azure API Management, Kong Gateway
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: Apigee; alternatives Azure API Management, Kong Gateway, MuleSoft Anypoint Platform, Tyk
- Perplexity Sonar: Kong Gateway; alternatives Amazon API Gateway, Apigee, Azure API Management, IBM API Connect
- Grok 4.1 Fast: Apigee; alternatives Amazon API Gateway, Azure API Management, IBM API Connect, Kong Gateway
- Mistral Small: Apigee, Kong Gateway; alternatives Amazon API Gateway, Azure API Management, MuleSoft Anypoint Platform
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: Kong Gateway; alternatives Amazon API Gateway, Apigee, Azure API Management, MuleSoft Anypoint Platform
- Llama 4 Maverick: no first choice
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: Apigee, Kong Gateway; alternatives Amazon API Gateway, Azure API Management
- Kimi K2: Kong Gateway; alternatives Amazon API Gateway, Apache APISIX, Apigee, Azure API Management
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: Apigee; alternatives Amazon API Gateway, Apache APISIX / API7, Azure API Management, IBM API Connect
- MiniMax M2.5: Kong Gateway; alternatives Amazon API Gateway, Apigee, Azure API Management, Gravitee

## Sources the answers cite

60 of 72 answers came back with a source list, from 12 of 12 models. Sites named in the most answers:

- zuplo.com: 38 answers, 73 citations
- api7.ai: 28 answers, 41 citations
- toolradar.com: 28 answers, 28 citations
- geekflare.com: 25 answers, 25 citations
- dupple.com: 24 answers, 24 citations
- digitalapi.ai: 22 answers, 32 citations
- guideflow.com: 20 answers, 21 citations
- konghq.com: 18 answers, 22 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://toolradar.com/guides/best-api-gateways (28 answers)
- https://geekflare.com/guides/best-api-gateways (25 answers)
- https://dupple.com/learn/best-api-gateways (24 answers)
- https://zuplo.com/learning-center/api-gateway-pricing-comparison-2026 (21 answers)
- https://api7.ai/top-11-api-gateways-platforms-compared (16 answers)
- https://guideflow.com/blog/api-gateway-software (13 answers)
- https://konghq.com/blog/enterprise/kong-vs-aws-api-gateway (13 answers)
- https://gartner.com/reviews/market/api-management (12 answers)
- https://digitalapi.ai/blogs/best-api-gateway (11 answers)
- https://enterprise-software-review.contentwave.net/article/kong-vs-apigee-x-vs-aws-azure-api-management-enterprise-guide (11 answers)

## Warned against

- Amazon API Gateway: 19 of 56 labels 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: 16 of 63 labels 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: 11 of 65 labels negative. "EOL as of September 2025; entered sunset support period ending September 2026" (Kimi K2, negative prompt)
- Azure API Management: 7 of 46 labels negative. "Why Avoid Pure Usage-Based Models? ... Azure API Management | Consumption | ~$3.50/M calls" (Kimi K2, budget prompt)

## Record

- Method: https://it-ai-index.com/methodology/
- Raw judge labels and full responses: https://it-ai-index.com/data/
- License: CC BY 4.0. Cite as IT AI Recommendation Index, September 2026 Edition, it-ai-index.com.