API Management · head to head
Gravitee vs Swagger
Gravitee
API Management
Open source API management platform for event-native APIs
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
S
Swagger
API Management
API design and documentation platform for building, testing, and managing APIs
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Each has a real cost: Gravitee the entry paid API management tier is $2,500 a month and includes a single production gateway; Swagger swaggerHub, the commercial layer over the free open source Swagger tools, is sold in Free, Team and Enterprise tiers with the Enterprise tier requiring a sales contact and no public price, per the vendor pricing page
- They diverge on capability: Gravitee covers API Gateway, Swagger covers API Specification.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Gravitee and Swagger actually diverge.
Identical on both: starting price (Free), pricing model (freemium), free tier (Yes), 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 Gravitee
- API Gateway
- Developer Portal
- Analytics Dashboard
- Kubernetes
- Docker
- Kafka
- LDAP
- Cloud support
Only in Swagger
- API Specification
- Interactive Documentation
- Code Generation
- GitHub
- GitLab
- Azure DevOps
- Jira
- Web support
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
Gravitee
- API gateway and lifecycle managementnot Swagger
- Exposing Kafka event streams as managed APIsnot Swagger
- Protocol mediation between event brokers and clientsnot Swagger
- Self-hosting an open source API gatewaynot Swagger
- Access control and authentication in front of internal APIsnot Swagger
Swagger
- API Developmentnot Gravitee
- API Gatewaynot Gravitee
- API Testingnot Gravitee
- API Documentationnot Gravitee
- Microservicesnot Gravitee
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
Gravitee
- The entry paid API management tier is $2,500 a month and includes a single production gateway
- Event management is priced separately, starting at $1,250 a month for the Comet tier
- Tiers are gated on gateway and broker counts, so scaling horizontally means moving tier rather than paying incrementally
- Data logging masking and other enterprise features are withheld from the lowest paid tier
- 24/7 support requires the top Universe tier
Swagger
- SwaggerHub, the commercial layer over the free open source Swagger tools, is sold in Free, Team and Enterprise tiers with the Enterprise tier requiring a sales contact and no public price, per the vendor pricing page
Pricing, plan by plan
Gravitee
Free- CommunityFree
- API Gateway
- Basic analytics
- Community support
- Enterprise$1500/monthly
- Advanced features
- SLA support
- SSO integration
- Custom$undefined/monthly
- Custom deployment
- Dedicated support
- Premium SLA
Swagger
Free- FreeFree
- OpenAPI specification
- Swagger UI
- API documentation
- Professional$20/monthly
- Advanced features
- Team collaboration
- API testing
- Enterprise$undefined/monthly
- Custom deployment
- Advanced security
- Dedicated support
Which should you pick?
Choose Gravitee if
- You need api gateway.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Cloud, On-premise, Kubernetes.
- You also want developer portal.
Choose Swagger if
- You need api specification.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Web, CLI, Desktop.
- You also want interactive documentation.
Questions people ask
- Is Gravitee or Swagger better?
- Neither clearly leads. Gravitee starts at Free and Swagger at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Gravitee or Swagger?
- Gravitee starts at Free and Swagger at Free.
- Does Gravitee or Swagger run on more platforms?
- Gravitee runs on Cloud, On-premise, Kubernetes. Swagger runs on Web, CLI, Desktop.
- Can I use Gravitee for free?
- Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
- What is Gravitee best used for?
- Gravitee is most often used for api gateway and lifecycle management, exposing kafka event streams as managed apis, protocol mediation between event brokers and clients, self-hosting an open source api gateway. Of those, api gateway and lifecycle management and exposing kafka event streams as managed apis are not what Swagger is typically brought in for.
- What can Gravitee do that Swagger cannot?
- Gravitee covers API Gateway, Developer Portal, Analytics Dashboard, Kubernetes. Swagger covers API Specification, Interactive Documentation, Code Generation, GitHub.