Software · head to head
3scale vs Apigee
3scale
Software
API management platform for designing, securing, and monetizing APIs
- From
- $300/monthly
- Rated
- -
Apigee
Software
API management platform for designing, securing, and scaling APIs
- From
- $500/monthly
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Each has a real cost: 3scale red Hat's managed 3scale services end on 30 June 2027, so anyone adopting the hosted option now is choosing a product with a published end date; Apigee the free evaluation is a sandbox limited to 60 days
- They diverge on capability: 3scale covers API Monetization, Apigee covers API Analytics.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which 3scale and Apigee actually diverge.
Identical on both: pricing model (subscription), free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Unknown).
What each one covers
Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.
Only in 3scale
- API Monetization
- Red Hat OpenShift
- Kubernetes
Only in Apigee
- API Analytics
- Google Cloud services
- Okta
Both cover
- API Gateway
- Developer Portal
- AWS
- Azure
- Cloud support
- On-premises support
- Hybrid support
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
3scale
- API gateway and lifecycle managementnot Apigee
- Rate limiting and traffic control across API consumersnot Apigee
- Developer portal and access key managementnot Apigee
- Monetising APIs with usage-based plansnot Apigee
- Hybrid deployment across on-premises and cloudnot Apigee
Apigee
- Publishing, securing and versioning APIs for an enterprise API programnot 3scale
- Monetizing APIs and running a developer portalnot 3scale
- Analyzing API traffic and defending APIs against bots and abusenot 3scale
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
3scale
- Red Hat's managed 3scale services end on 30 June 2027, so anyone adopting the hosted option now is choosing a product with a published end date
- Sold as part of Red Hat middleware rather than standalone, and 3scale.net redirects into redhat.com
- Pricing is not published and a subscription is required for some services
Apigee
- The free evaluation is a sandbox limited to 60 days
- Pay-as-you-go has no SLA available at all
- Pay-as-you-go bills environments separately from API calls, with a Base environment costing $365 per month per region
- The Base environment is capped at 50 QPS with an SLA of up to 99%
- Standard API Proxy calls are billed at $20 per 1M calls up to 50M, and Extensible API Proxy calls at $100 per 1M calls up to 50M
- API Analytics is a paid add-on at $20 per 1M API calls and cannot be bought on a Base environment
- Advanced API Security is a paid add-on at $350 per 1M API calls and cannot be bought on a Base environment
- Monetization is unavailable on pay-as-you-go and requires a subscription tier
- Additional API proxy deployments beyond those included cost $0.04 per hour per region on a Comprehensive environment
- Subscription tiers Standard, Enterprise and Enterprise Plus are quote only with no published price
- Google Cloud networking charges for IP addresses, data transfer out and forwarding rules are billed on top of Apigee usage
Pricing, plan by plan
3scale
$300/monthly- Starter$300/monthly
- API gateway
- Developer portal
- Basic analytics
- Professional$750/monthly
- Advanced features
- API monetization
- Enhanced support
- Enterprise$undefined/monthly
- Custom deployment
- Dedicated support
- Premium SLA
Apigee
$500/monthly- Starter$500/monthly
- API gateway
- Analytics
- Developer portal
- Professional$2500/monthly
- Advanced security
- Traffic management
- Monetization
- Enterprise$undefined/monthly
- Custom deployment
- SLA
- Dedicated support
Which should you pick?
Choose 3scale if
- You need api monetization.
- You work on Cloud, On-premises, Hybrid.
- You also want red hat openshift.
Choose Apigee if
- You need api analytics.
- You work on Cloud, Hybrid, On-premises.
- You also want google cloud services.
Questions people ask
- Is 3scale or Apigee better?
- Neither clearly leads. 3scale starts at $300/monthly and Apigee at $500/monthly, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, 3scale or Apigee?
- 3scale starts at $300/monthly and Apigee at $500/monthly.
- Does 3scale or Apigee run on more platforms?
- 3scale runs on Cloud, On-premises, Hybrid. Apigee runs on Cloud, Hybrid, On-premises.
- What is 3scale best used for?
- 3scale is most often used for api gateway and lifecycle management, rate limiting and traffic control across api consumers, developer portal and access key management, monetising apis with usage-based plans. Of those, api gateway and lifecycle management and rate limiting and traffic control across api consumers are not what Apigee is typically brought in for.
- What can 3scale do that Apigee cannot?
- 3scale covers API Monetization, Red Hat OpenShift, Kubernetes. Apigee covers API Analytics, Google Cloud services, Okta. Both handle API Gateway, Developer Portal, AWS, Azure.