IT AI Index
Index › Developer platform › September 2026 Edition

API management

Asked as “API management platform”, and as “API lifecycle and developer portal tool”, on behalf of a mid-market B2B company. 46 first choices recorded across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, twelve models each.
Standing
Kong Gateway
Contested
37% of first choices, contested.
ShowinginAll 67 categories →

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 businessZuplo38%ContestedStanding →Mid-marketKong Gateway37%ContestedThis pageEnterpriseApigee29%ContestedStanding →

01The standing

Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, over all twelve models, for a mid-market B2B company. Ordered by share.
ProductFirst-choice shareNegative rateLabelsQuadrant
01Kong Gateway37%9%64endorsed leader
02Tyk13%7%41accepted challenger
03Gravitee11%0%21accepted challenger
04Zuplo11%12%16accepted challenger
05Azure API Management7%20%41accepted challenger
06WSO2 API Manager4%20%20accepted challenger
07Postman2%13%15accepted challenger
Show the four products at 0%, ordered by negative rate
11Apigee0%43%44criticized challenger
10MuleSoft Anypoint Platform0%38%34criticized challenger
09IBM API Connect0%35%17criticized challenger
08Amazon API Gateway0%31%45criticized 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 TykKong Gateway vs GraviteeTyk vs Gravitee

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 →
01
02
03
04
05
06
07
08
09
10
11
Accepted challengerEndorsed leader
0%First-choice share → · lines at 30% share and 25% negative50%
Key
01Kong Gateway37%
02Tyk13%
03Gravitee11%
04Zuplo11%
05Azure API Management7%
06WSO2 API Manager4%
07Postman2%
08Amazon API Gateway0%
09IBM API Connect0%
10MuleSoft Anypoint Platform0%
11Apigee0%

02What they warned about

Two of twelve models held their first choice under the paraphrase. Claude Haiku 4.5, GPT-5.4 mini, Gemini 3.5 Flash, Perplexity Sonar, Mistral Small, DeepSeek V4 Flash, Llama 4 Maverick, 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.
Apigee
43%
19 of 44 labels negative · 10 of 12 models · 4 hard negative
“It is recommended to steer away from Apigee, especially for organizations with strict compliance and regulatory oversight.” Llama 4 Maverick, negative prompt
MuleSoft Anypoint Platform
38%
13 of 34 labels negative · 9 of 12 models · 3 hard negative
“**Avoid** jumping to MuleSoft/Apigee ... these lean enterprise/expensive and are usually overkill at mid-market.” DeepSeek V4 Flash, paraphrase prompt
Amazon API Gateway
31%
14 of 45 labels negative · 8 of 12 models · 2 hard negative
“**AWS API Gateway**: avoid it if you need **multi-cloud** management or stronger centralized governance, because it is AWS-only” Perplexity Sonar, negative prompt
IBM API Connect
35%
6 of 17 labels negative · 6 of 12 models · 3 hard negative
“Complex deployment, expensive, and has had performance issues in some cases” GLM 4.7 FlashX, negative 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

62 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. 6 of those lists are Google grounding redirects that name no site and are left out of the counts. 850 links across 194 sites, every framing counted. Ranked by the number of answers carrying the site or page.

moesif.com
35 answers · 35 citations · 10 models
gartner.com
31 answers · 32 citations · 10 models
zuplo.com
vendor site · Zuplo30 answers · 45 citations · 9 models
integrate.io
vendor site · Integrate.io29 answers · 30 citations · 10 models
digitalapi.ai
vendor site · DigitalAPI23 answers · 35 citations · 10 models
improvado.io
20 answers · 20 citations · 10 models
g2.com
17 answers · 62 citations · 8 models
api7.ai
16 answers · 20 citations · 8 models
nordicapis.com
15 answers · 16 citations · 10 models
checkthat.ai
15 answers · 15 citations · 9 models
gravitee.io
vendor site · Gravitee13 answers · 27 citations · 6 models
blog.axway.com
vendor site · Axway13 answers · 13 citations · 7 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.

gartner.com/reviews/market/api-management
31 answers · 10 models
moesif.com/blog/technical/api-development/Top-API-Managers
31 answers · 10 models
integrate.io/blog/api-management-tools
27 answers · 10 models
improvado.io/blog/top-api-management-tools
19 answers · 10 models
zuplo.com/learning-center/best-api-management-platforms-2026
14 answers · 6 models
blog.axway.com/learning-center/apis/api-management/list-api-management-vendors
13 answers · 7 models
swagger.io/blog/best-api-lifecycle-management-platforms
13 answers · 9 models
checkthat.ai/answers/what-are-the-best-api-management-service-platforms
11 answers · 7 models
technologyadvice.com/api-management-software
11 answers · 7 models
digitalapi.ai/blogs/best-api-lifecycle-management-tools
10 answers · 10 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 management platform for a mid-market B2B company?”Paraphrase“Which API lifecycle and developer portal tool would you recommend to a mid-sized B2B company?”Comparative“What are the top API management platforms and how do they differ?”Budget-constrained“What is the best API management platform for a company with a limited budget?”Scale-constrained“We are a 500 person company evaluating a API management platform. What should we look at?”Negative“Which API management platforms should I avoid or be cautious about?”
Claude Haiku 4.5no first choiceagainst: MuleSoft Anypoint PlatformAzure API Management, Kong GatewayChanged
Two alternativesPostman, WSO2 API Manager
Zuplo
Four alternativesAmazon API Gateway, Apigee, Kong Gateway, MuleSoft Anypoint Platform
Gravitee
Four alternativesActivepieces, Azure API Management, IBM API Connect, Integrately
no first choicenothing named
GPT-5.4 miniKong Gateway
Two alternativesBoomi, IBM API Connect
WSO2 API ManagerChanged
Two alternativesAzure API Management + Azure API Center, Postman
no first choice
Seven alternativesAmazon API Gateway, Apigee, Azure API Management, IBM API Connect, Kong Gateway, MuleSoft Anypoint Platform, Tyk
Tyk, WSO2 API Manager
One alternativeAmazon API Gateway
against: Apigee, MuleSoft Anypoint Platformno first choiceagainst: Azure API Management
Gemini 3.5 FlashTyk
Four alternativesAmazon API Gateway, Azure API Management, Gravitee, Kong Gateway
against: MuleSoft Anypoint PlatformZuploChanged
Four alternativesDigitalAPI, Kong Gateway, ReadMe, Tyk
against: Amazon API Gateway, Apigee, MuleSoft Anypoint PlatformKong Gateway
Five alternativesAmazon API Gateway, Apigee, Azure API Management, Gravitee, Tyk
against: MuleSoft Anypoint PlatformGravitee, Zuplo
Three alternativesAmazon API Gateway, Apache APISIX, Tyk
against: Kong GatewayKong Gateway
Four alternativesApache APISIX, Gravitee, KrakenD, Tyk
against: Amazon API Gateway, Apigee, MuleSoft Anypoint Platformagainst: Amazon API Gateway, Apigee, Axway, Broadcom Layer 7, IBM API Connect, Kong Gateway, MuleSoft Anypoint Platform, Software AG webMethods
Perplexity SonarBoomi
Four alternativesAmazon API Gateway, Apigee, Azure API Management, WSO2 API Manager
ZuploChanged
Two alternativesKong Gateway, Swagger
against: MuleSoft Anypoint Platformno first choiceKong Gateway
Three alternativesAmazon API Gateway, Apidog, Postman
no first choiceagainst: Amazon API Gateway, Apigee, IBM API Connect, Kong Gateway, SwaggerHub
Grok 4.1 FastKong Gateway
Three alternativesAmazon API Gateway, Azure API Management, Tyk
against: Apigee, IBM API Connect, MuleSoft Anypoint PlatformKong GatewayHeld
Two alternativesAzure API Management, Postman
against: Apigee, ZuploApigee
Seven alternativesAmazon API Gateway, Azure API Management, Gravitee, IBM API Connect, Kong Gateway, MuleSoft Anypoint Platform, Tyk
Kong Gateway
Four alternativesAmazon API Gateway, Apache APISIX, Gravitee, Tyk
against: Postman, Stoplightno first choiceagainst: Amazon API Gateway, Apigee, Azure API Management, DreamFactory, WSO2 API Manager
Mistral SmallAzure API Management, Kong Gateway
One alternativeTyk
Stoplight, SwaggerHubChanged
Two alternativesAzure API Management, Postman
Apigee
Five alternativesAkana, Axway Amplify, Kong Gateway, MuleSoft Anypoint Platform, Red Hat 3scale
Postman
Two alternativesAmazon API Gateway, Kong Gateway
no first choiceagainst: IBM API Connect
DeepSeek V4 FlashTyk
One alternativeKong Gateway
against: Amazon API Gateway, Apigee, ZuploGraviteeChanged
Five alternativesKong Gateway, Mintlify, ReadMe, Redocly, Stoplight
against: Apigee, MuleSoft Anypoint Platformno first choice
Five alternativesAmazon API Gateway, Apigee, Azure API Management, Kong Gateway, MuleSoft Anypoint Platform
Gravitee, Kong Gateway
Two alternativesAmazon API Gateway, Apache APISIX
against: Tykno first choiceagainst: Amazon API Gateway, Apigee, Azure API Management, Kong Gateway, MuleSoft Anypoint API Manager
Llama 4 Maverickno first choiceZuploChanged
Three alternativesRedocly, Stoplight, SwaggerHub
no first choiceKong Gateway
Two alternativesAmazon API Gateway, MuleSoft Anypoint Platform
no first choiceagainst: Apigee, Kong Gateway, Layer7, Red Hat 3scale
Qwen 3.7 FlashKong Gateway
One alternativeAzure API Management
against: Amazon API Gateway, ApigeeKong GatewayHeld
One alternativeAzure API Management
against: Apigeeno first choiceApache APISIX
Five alternativesAmazon API Gateway, Azure API Management, Google Cloud API Gateway, Kong Gateway, Tyk
no first choiceagainst: Amazon API Gateway, Azure API Management, CA API Gateway, IBM API Connect, MuleSoft Anypoint Platform, Software AG, WSO2 API Manager
Kimi K2Kong Gateway
Four alternativesApigee, Azure API Management, MuleSoft Anypoint Platform, Tyk
GraviteeChanged
Two alternativesKong Gateway, Stoplight
Kong Gateway
Two alternativesApigee, Tyk
against: Amazon API Gateway, Azure API ManagementTyk
Five alternativesAmazon API Gateway, Cloudflare API Gateway, Gravitee, Kong Gateway, Zuplo
no first choiceagainst: Amazon API Gateway, Apigee, Azure API Managementagainst: Amazon API Gateway, Apigee, Azure API Management, MuleSoft Anypoint Platform, Tyk, WSO2 API Manager
GLM 4.7 FlashXKong Gateway, Tyk
Two alternativesAmazon API Gateway, Azure API Management
Kong Gateway, Mintlify, ReadMeChanged
One alternativeAzure API Management
against: ApigeeKong Gateway
Seven alternativesAmazon API Gateway, Apigee, Azure API Management, Gravitee, MuleSoft Anypoint Platform, Tyk, WSO2 API Manager
Tyk
Two alternativesGravitee, Red Hat 3scale
against: Postmanno first choiceagainst: Akana, Amazon API Gateway, Apigee, Azure API Management, IBM API Connect, Kong Gateway, Layer7 API Management, MuleSoft Anypoint Platform, Red Hat 3scale, Savvytech API Gateway, Traefik, Tyk, WSO2 API Manager
MiniMax M2.5Azure API Management, Kong Gateway
Two alternativesTIBCO Mashery, Tyk
SwaggerHub, ZuploChanged
Three alternativesKong Gateway, Mintlify, Stoplight
no first choiceKong Gateway
Two alternativesPostman, WSO2 API Manager
no first choiceagainst: Amazon API Gateway, Apigee
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.
PromptModelVersion stringTime (UTC)SearchedSourcesLatency
Direct recommendationClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 11:54no05 s
Direct recommendationGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 12:27yes36 s
Direct recommendationGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 11:37yes525 s
Direct recommendationPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 12:04yes205 s
Direct recommendationGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-17 11:29yes4423 s
Direct recommendationMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 11:38yes55 s
Direct recommendationDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra2026-09-17 14:07yes2944 s
Direct recommendationLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 09:45yes53 s
Direct recommendationQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 11:00yes1044 s
Direct recommendationKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 12:57yes1430 s
Direct recommendationGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 11:10yes1447 s
Direct recommendationMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 10:29yes519 s
ParaphraseClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 09:44yes1610 s
ParaphraseGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 11:04yes37 s
ParaphraseGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 13:25yes1727 s
ParaphrasePerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 09:46yes205 s
ParaphraseGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-17 13:19yes4220 s
ParaphraseMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 13:45yes55 s
ParaphraseDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 11:45yes2627 s
ParaphraseLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 12:46yes53 s
ParaphraseQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 14:12yes22115 s
ParaphraseKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 11:34yes2427 s
ParaphraseGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 13:40yes2891 s
ParaphraseMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 14:03yes1775 s
ComparativeClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 11:10yes910 s
ComparativeGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 11:17yes78 s
ComparativeGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 11:18yes1123 s
ComparativePerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 11:00yes209 s
ComparativeGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-17 11:44yes2415 s
ComparativeMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 11:17yes57 s
ComparativeDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 14:15yes1013 s
ComparativeLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 09:41yes52 s
ComparativeQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 11:41yes531 s
ComparativeKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 12:15yes926 s
ComparativeGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 09:49yes22271 s
ComparativeMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 11:44yes1038 s
Budget constrainedClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 10:32yes97 s
Budget constrainedGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 10:04yes34 s
Budget constrainedGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 13:48yes1524 s
Budget constrainedPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 09:24yes205 s
Budget constrainedGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-17 12:47yes4120 s
Budget constrainedMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 10:00yes54 s
Budget constrainedDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 11:37yes1920 s
Budget constrainedLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 09:55yes53 s
Budget constrainedQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 10:48no035 s
Budget constrainedKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 13:33yes1034 s
Budget constrainedGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 12:57yes2393 s
Budget constrainedMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 11:11yes1546 s
Scale constrainedClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 10:36no05 s
Scale constrainedGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 12:17no09 s
Scale constrainedGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 12:38yes1521 s
Scale constrainedPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 09:43yes207 s
Scale constrainedGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-17 12:46yes1511 s
Scale constrainedMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 12:56no010 s
Scale constrainedDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 09:38yes1018 s
Scale constrainedLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 09:46yes53 s
Scale constrainedQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 11:52no039 s
Scale constrainedKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 13:22yes10100 s
Scale constrainedGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 12:57yes1481 s
Scale constrainedMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 12:52no010 s
Negative framingClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 12:05no04 s
Negative framingGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 10:12yes55 s
Negative framingGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 14:05yes623 s
Negative framingPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 13:47yes207 s
Negative framingGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-17 09:22yes2416 s
Negative framingMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 10:28yes55 s
Negative framingDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 10:07yes3324 s
Negative framingLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 10:55yes53 s
Negative framingQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 13:31no039 s
Negative framingKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 09:50yes2937 s
Negative framingGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 13:16no010 s
Negative framingMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 13:04yes2246 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
Azure read as Azure API Management
Cloudflare read as Cloudflare API Gateway
IBM read as IBM API Connect
Kong read as Kong Gateway
Kong (Community Edition) read as Kong Gateway
Kong (Gateway + Konnect) read as Kong Gateway
Kong (Kong Konnect) read as Kong Gateway
Kong (Konnect) read as Kong Gateway
Kong (Open Source) read as Kong Gateway
Kong (Open Source/Free Tier) read as Kong Gateway
Kong Enterprise read as Kong Gateway
MuleSoft read as MuleSoft Anypoint Platform
MuleSoft (Anypoint Platform) read as MuleSoft Anypoint Platform
WSO2 read as WSO2 API Manager
Unresolved, counted raw
APIwiz
Azure API Management + Azure API Center
Broadcom Layer 7
CA API Gateway
DreamFactory
Integrately
Layer7 API Management (now Broadcom)
Oracle API Management
Savvytech API Gateway
Supermetrics
Discontinued, still offered
No shut-down product was recommended here.

Also in developer platform

The other categories of this function, with the leader in each.
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