API Management · head to head
Kong Gateway vs Liveblocks
Kong Gateway
API Management
Open-source and cloud API gateway for managing microservices traffic
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
Liveblocks
API Management
Realtime collaboration infrastructure for building multiplayer features
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Each has a real cost: Kong Gateway the free open-source gateway lacks the analytics, portals, and support of the paid Konnect tiers.; Liveblocks on the Free plan, each metered feature has a hard cap and simply pauses when exceeded rather than allowing overage.
- They diverge on capability: Kong Gateway covers API request routing, Liveblocks covers Realtime presence and cursors.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Kong Gateway and Liveblocks actually diverge.
| Attribute | Kong Gateway | Liveblocks |
|---|---|---|
| Platforms | web, linux, api | web, api |
| Founded | 2017 | Unknown |
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 Kong Gateway
- API request routing
- Plugin ecosystem
- Developer portals
- AI Gateway
- Analytics and observability
- SSO and audit logs
Only in Liveblocks
- Realtime presence and cursors
- Comments
- Version history
- Custom notifications
- SSO and SOC 2
- Management API
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
Kong Gateway
- Routing and securing traffic across microservicesnot Liveblocks
- Publishing internal or external developer portalsnot Liveblocks
- Managing rate limits and authentication at the API edgenot Liveblocks
- Gateway-level routing to multiple LLM providersnot Liveblocks
Liveblocks
- Adding live cursors and presence to a collaborative editornot Kong Gateway
- Building threaded comments on documents or designsnot Kong Gateway
- Sending realtime notifications tied to collaborative actionsnot Kong Gateway
- Restoring previous versions of collaborative contentnot Kong Gateway
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
Kong Gateway
- The free open-source gateway lacks the analytics, portals, and support of the paid Konnect tiers.
- Plus tier caps API requests at 1M/month before incurring per-million overage charges.
- Enterprise pricing is custom and not published, making budgeting harder without sales contact.
- Configuration and plugin management can require significant operational expertise to run at scale.
Liveblocks
- On the Free plan, each metered feature has a hard cap and simply pauses when exceeded rather than allowing overage.
- The jump from Pro ($30/month) to Team (starting at $600/month) is steep for teams that outgrow Pro but don't need full Team scale.
- Multi-region hosting and SCIM provisioning are Enterprise-only and require custom pricing.
Pricing, plan by plan
Kong Gateway
Free- Free TrialFree
- 30-day enterprise functionality trial
- Unlimited gateways
- 30-day analytics retention
- Plus$undefined/month
- Up to 5 serverless, 2 hybrid, 2 dedicated cloud gateways
- 1M API requests/month included
- Up to 2 developer portals
- Enterprise$undefined/month
- Unlimited hybrid and dedicated cloud gateways
- Unlimited developer portals
- SSO and audit logs
Liveblocks
Free- FreeFree
- 10 projects
- 3 dashboard seats
- 10 simultaneous connections per room
- Pro$30/month
- $30 monthly credits
- Removes Liveblocks branding
- 3 dashboard seats
- Team$600/month
- SSO and SOC 2
- 10 dashboard seats
- 50 connections/room
Which should you pick?
Choose Kong Gateway if
- You need api request routing.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on web, linux, api.
- You also want plugin ecosystem.
Choose Liveblocks if
- You need realtime presence and cursors.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on web, api.
- You also want comments.
Questions people ask
- Is Kong Gateway or Liveblocks better?
- Neither clearly leads. Kong Gateway starts at Free and Liveblocks at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Kong Gateway or Liveblocks?
- Kong Gateway starts at Free and Liveblocks at Free.
- Does Kong Gateway or Liveblocks run on more platforms?
- Kong Gateway runs on web, linux, api. Liveblocks runs on web, api.
- Can I use Kong Gateway for free?
- Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
- What is Kong Gateway best used for?
- Kong Gateway is most often used for routing and securing traffic across microservices, publishing internal or external developer portals, managing rate limits and authentication at the api edge, gateway-level routing to multiple llm providers. Of those, routing and securing traffic across microservices and publishing internal or external developer portals are not what Liveblocks is typically brought in for.
- What can Kong Gateway do that Liveblocks cannot?
- Kong Gateway covers API request routing, Plugin ecosystem, Developer portals, AI Gateway. Liveblocks covers Realtime presence and cursors, Comments, Version history, Custom notifications.
Answered from the vendors’ own pages
Kong Gateway: Is Kong Gateway free?
Kong's core gateway is open source and free to self-host. Kong Konnect, the managed cloud platform, offers a 30-day free trial before moving to paid Plus or custom Enterprise pricing.
SourceLiveblocks: What does Liveblocks cost?
Liveblocks offers a Free plan with hard usage caps, a Pro plan at $30/month ($25/month billed annually) including $30 in monthly credits, a Team plan from $600/month, and custom Enterprise pricing.
SourceKong Gateway: How is usage metered on the Plus plan?
The Plus plan includes 1M API requests per month, with additional usage billed at $200 per extra 1 million requests up to a 10M/month cap, plus per-gateway and per-LLM-model charges.
SourceLiveblocks: Is there a free plan, and what are its limits?
Yes, the Free plan includes 10 projects, 3 dashboard seats, 10 simultaneous connections per room, 3,000 collaboration minutes, 200 comments, and 1GB of realtime data storage, with features pausing once a cap is hit.
SourceKong Gateway: What support is included?
Plus includes email support with a 2-business-day SLA, while Enterprise adds dedicated success managers and professional services.
SourceLiveblocks: How is usage metered?
Paid plans include monthly credits covering collaboration minutes, comments, and storage; usage beyond the credit is billed at metered rates such as $0.002 per collaboration minute and $0.01 per comment, with credits resetting each billing cycle without rollover.
SourceRelated pages
More on Kong Gateway
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