API Management · head to head
Akana vs Apigee
Akana
API Management
Enterprise API lifecycle management platform
- From
- $2500/monthly
- Rated
- -
Apigee
API Management
API management platform for designing, securing, and scaling APIs
- From
- $500/monthly
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Each has a real cost: Akana owned by Perforce and sold within their portfolio rather than independently, and akana.com redirects to perforce.com; Apigee the free evaluation is a sandbox limited to 60 days
- They diverge on capability: Akana covers API Lifecycle Management, Apigee covers API Gateway.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Akana and Apigee actually diverge.
Identical on both: pricing model (subscription), free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated), category (API Management).
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 Akana
- API Lifecycle Management
- API Security
- Governance Controls
- OAuth
- SAML
- LDAP
- Active Directory
- On-premise support
Only in Apigee
- API Gateway
- API Analytics
- Developer Portal
- Google Cloud services
- Azure
- AWS
- Okta
- On-premises support
Both cover
- Cloud support
- Hybrid support
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
Akana
- API lifecycle management across REST, SOAP and GraphQLnot Apigee
- Applying OAuth, JWT and SAML policies at the gatewaynot Apigee
- Running the same platform on-premises, in Kubernetes or across cloudsnot Apigee
- Developer portal and API monetisationnot Apigee
- Monitoring API traffic and enforcing quotasnot Apigee
Apigee
- Publishing, securing and versioning APIs for an enterprise API programnot Akana
- Monetizing APIs and running a developer portalnot Akana
- Analyzing API traffic and defending APIs against bots and abusenot Akana
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
Akana
- Owned by Perforce and sold within their portfolio rather than independently, and akana.com redirects to perforce.com
- Pricing is not published; only a 30 day trial is offered
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
Akana
$2500/monthly- Professional$2500/monthly
- API Gateway
- Developer Portal
- Basic analytics
- Enterprise$5000/monthly
- Advanced governance
- Multi-cloud support
- Premium support
- Custom$undefined/monthly
- Custom solutions
- Dedicated support
- SLA guarantee
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 Akana if
- You need api lifecycle management.
- You work on Cloud, On-premise, Hybrid.
- You also want api security.
Choose Apigee if
- You need api gateway.
- You work on Cloud, Hybrid, On-premises.
- You also want api analytics.
Questions people ask
- Is Akana or Apigee better?
- Neither clearly leads. Akana starts at $2500/monthly and Apigee at $500/monthly, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Akana or Apigee?
- Akana starts at $2500/monthly and Apigee at $500/monthly.
- Does Akana or Apigee run on more platforms?
- Akana runs on Cloud, On-premise, Hybrid. Apigee runs on Cloud, Hybrid, On-premises.
- What is Akana best used for?
- Akana is most often used for api lifecycle management across rest, soap and graphql, applying oauth, jwt and saml policies at the gateway, running the same platform on-premises, in kubernetes or across clouds, developer portal and api monetisation. Of those, api lifecycle management across rest, soap and graphql and applying oauth, jwt and saml policies at the gateway are not what Apigee is typically brought in for.
- What can Akana do that Apigee cannot?
- Akana covers API Lifecycle Management, API Security, Governance Controls, OAuth. Apigee covers API Gateway, API Analytics, Developer Portal, Google Cloud services. Both handle Cloud support, Hybrid support.