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APIs · head to head

Kong Gateway vs Yapily

Kong Gateway logo

Kong Gateway

APIs

Open-source and cloud API gateway for managing microservices traffic

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Yapily logo

Yapily

APIs

Open banking API infrastructure for account data and pay-by-bank payments across Europe

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

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.; Yapily production pricing itself is not published; only the resulting typical merchant transaction cost is publicly known, so the underlying platform fee still requires a sales conversation.
  • They diverge on capability: Kong Gateway covers API request routing, Yapily covers Unified open banking API.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Kong Gateway and Yapily actually diverge.

Attributes where Kong Gateway and Yapily differ
AttributeKong GatewayYapily
Pricing modelfreemiumFree sandbox, pay-as-you-go production
Platformsweb, linux, apiWeb, API
Founded2017Unknown

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated), category (APIs).

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 Yapily

  • Unified open banking API
  • Account information access
  • Payment initiation
  • Free sandbox
  • Multi-country bank coverage
  • Webhooks and reconciliation tooling

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Kong Gateway

  • Routing and securing traffic across microservicesnot Yapily
  • Publishing internal or external developer portalsnot Yapily
  • Managing rate limits and authentication at the API edgenot Yapily
  • Gateway-level routing to multiple LLM providersnot Yapily

Yapily

  • A merchant wanting a lower-cost payment method alongside card acceptancenot Kong Gateway
  • A lending or budgeting product needing bank account data for affordability checksnot Kong Gateway
  • A business wanting one API instead of separate integrations to each bank's own open banking standardnot Kong Gateway
  • A company prototyping open banking features for free in sandbox before committing budgetnot 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.

Yapily

  • Production pricing itself is not published; only the resulting typical merchant transaction cost is publicly known, so the underlying platform fee still requires a sales conversation.
  • Consumer adoption of pay-by-bank still lags card payments, so merchants offering it as a checkout option typically see it used as a secondary rather than primary payment method.
  • Coverage depends on the banks in each country maintaining reliable open banking APIs, and inconsistent bank-side reliability across markets is a known category-wide weakness, not unique to Yapily but not solved by it either.
  • As infrastructure for both account data and payments, a company only needing one of those two capabilities is still evaluating a broader platform than it may need.
  • Regulatory dependence on PSD2 and UK open banking rules means the underlying legal framework, not just Yapily's product, could shift and affect what is possible on the platform.

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

Yapily

Free
  • SandboxFree
    • Free testing environment
    • UK and European bank connections for development
  • Production$undefined/month
    • Pay-as-you-go pricing, exact rates not published
    • Typical pay-by-bank cost of 0.1 to 0.5% or a flat 5 to 30 pence per transaction

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.
Kong Gateway review

Choose Yapily if

  • You need unified open banking api.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, API.
  • You also want account information access.
Yapily review

Questions people ask

Is Kong Gateway or Yapily better?
Neither clearly leads. Kong Gateway starts at Free and Yapily at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Kong Gateway or Yapily?
Kong Gateway starts at Free and Yapily at Free.
Does Kong Gateway or Yapily run on more platforms?
Kong Gateway runs on web, linux, api. Yapily 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 Yapily is typically brought in for.
What can Kong Gateway do that Yapily cannot?
Kong Gateway covers API request routing, Plugin ecosystem, Developer portals, AI Gateway. Yapily covers Unified open banking API, Account information access, Payment initiation, Free sandbox.

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.

Source
Yapily: Is there a free way to try it?

Yes, sandbox access is free for development and testing.

Kong 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.

Source
Yapily: How much cheaper is pay-by-bank than card payments?

Typically 0.1 to 0.5% of transaction value, or a flat 5 to 30 pence, against 1.5 to 3.5% for card scheme fees.

Kong Gateway: What support is included?

Plus includes email support with a 2-business-day SLA, while Enterprise adds dedicated success managers and professional services.

Source
Yapily: Is production pricing published?

No, production access is pay-as-you-go but exact rates require a sales conversation.

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