# Kong Gateway: how AI models rank it, September 2026

IT AI Recommendation Index, September 2026 Edition. Named in 135 judge labels across 2 categories by 12 of 12 models. Page: https://it-ai-index.com/vendors/kong-gateway/

## Standing by category

| Category | Share | Rank | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| API gateways | 61% | 1 | 13% | 71 |
| API management | 37% | 1 | 9% | 64 |

## What the models said for it

- "Kong Enterprise: (Hybrid/SaaS/Self-hosted). Built on Envoy/Nginx. Extremely performant, vast plugin ecosystem, and very strong GitOps/Kubernetes support." (Gemini 3.5 Flash, API gateways)
- "Choose Kong or APISIX if you have a high-traffic microservices infrastructure and need low latency, flexible hosting, and a robust plugin ecosystem." (Gemini 3.5 Flash, API gateways)
- "the best default choice is usually Kong Gateway because it offers the strongest balance of flexibility, features, and operational control" (Perplexity Sonar, API gateways)
- "Kong Gateway is frequently cited as the best overall and most flexible option, especially for mid-sized businesses." (Mistral Small, API gateways)

## And against it

- "Other outdated API gateways such as Kong, 3scale, and Layer7 are also not fit for modern cloud-native architectures." (Llama 4 Maverick, API management)
- "Free trials, then usage-based (~$25+/mo)—avoid if truly limited budget." (Grok 4.1 Fast, API gateways)
- "Kong: avoid it if you do not have in-house Lua expertise" (Perplexity Sonar, API management)
- "*Warning:* While the Core is free, the documentation for open-source installation can be heavy, and the ecosystem pushes users heavily toward their paid Enterprise tier." (Qwen 3.7 Flash, API gateways)

## 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.