Is Kong or Lago better?

Neither clearly leads. Kong starts at Free and Lago at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.

Which is cheaper, Kong or Lago?

Kong starts at Free and Lago at Free.

Does Kong or Lago run on more platforms?

Kong runs on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes. Lago runs on Web, Cloud, Self-hosted, On-premise, VPC.

Can I use Kong for free?

Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.

What is Kong best used for?

Kong is most often used for api gateway management and routing, api development and testing, enterprise api security and governance. Of those, api gateway management and routing and api development and testing are not what Lago is typically brought in for.

What can Kong do that Lago cannot?

Kong covers API Gateway, Authentication & Authorization, Rate Limiting, Kubernetes. Lago covers Real-time usage metering, Multiple pricing models, Automated invoicing, Prepaid credits.

APIs · head to head

Kong vs Lago

Kong

APIs

Cloud-native API gateway and service connectivity platform

From: Free
Rated: -

Full review Website

Lago

Accounting

Open-source billing infrastructure for usage-based models

From: Free
Rated: -

Full review Website

The short version

Each has a real cost: Kong the Plus plan includes 1M API requests a month and charges $200 a month for each additional million; Lago free tier limited to 10,000 entities per month with 5M event cap
They diverge on capability: Kong covers API Gateway, Lago covers Real-time usage metering.
Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Kong and Lago actually diverge.

Attributes where Kong and Lago differ
Attribute	Kong	Lago
Pricing model	subscription	Freemium with optional paid tiers
Platforms	Linux, Docker, Kubernetes	Web, Cloud, Self-hosted, On-premise, VPC
Category	APIs	Accounting
Founded	2010	Unknown

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

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

API Gateway
Authentication & Authorization
Rate Limiting
Kubernetes
Consul
Eureka
PostgreSQL
Linux support

Only in Lago

Real-time usage metering
Multiple pricing models
Automated invoicing
Prepaid credits
Entitlements
Multi-currency support
Payment orchestration
Revenue analytics

What people use each for

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

Kong

API gateway management and routingnot Lago
API development and testingnot Lago
Enterprise API security and governancenot Lago

Lago

Building usage-based billing for high-volume APIs and infrastructurenot Kong
Implementing metered billing for AI and tokenized servicesnot Kong
Creating subscription and hybrid pricing modelsnot Kong
Managing multi-currency billing for global companiesnot Kong
Maintaining billing infrastructure without vendor lock-innot Kong

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Kong

The Plus plan includes 1M API requests a month and charges $200 a month for each additional million
Plus is capped at 10M requests a month, so growth past that forces an Enterprise contract
Plus limits published APIs to 20 and includes one Developer Portal, with a second at $200 a month
SSO and audit logging are Enterprise only
Enterprise pricing is custom and billed annually

Lago

Free tier limited to 10,000 entities per month with 5M event cap
No specific pricing published for Pro annual plan or Scale plan
Self-hosted and on-premise deployments require engineering resources
Community support only on free tier
Scale plan requires annual contracts and sales engagement

Pricing, plan by plan

Kong

Free

Kong Konnect Free TrialFree
- 30-day free trial
- Full enterprise functionality
- Unlimited gateways
Kong Konnect Plus$null/month
- Per gateway pricing billed monthly
- Up to 5 Serverless Gateways, 2 Hybrid, 2 Dedicated Cloud Gateways
- 1M API requests included per month
Kong Insomnia EssentialsFree
- Unlimited projects and CLI access
- Up to 3 Git Sync users
- 1,000 mock server requests per month
Kong Insomnia Pro$12/month
- Unlimited users with Git Sync access
- Unlimited organizations
- RBAC

Lago

Free

Build (Free)Free
- 10,000 managed entities per month
- 5M usage events per month
- 1K events per second rate limit
Pro$399/month
- 10,000 entities included (graduated pricing to 100K)
- 25M usage events included (to 500M with graduated rates)
- 10K events per second (upgradeable to 100K)
Scale$null/custom
- Custom entity and event volumes
- 50K events per second (upgradeable to 100K)
- RBAC and SSO (SAML)

Which should you pick?

Choose Kong if

You need api gateway.
You want to start without paying.
You work on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes.
You also want authentication & authorization.

Kong review

Choose Lago if

You need real-time usage metering.
You want to start without paying.
You work on Web, Cloud, Self-hosted, On-premise, VPC.
You also want multiple pricing models.

Lago review

Questions people ask

Is Kong or Lago better?: Neither clearly leads. Kong starts at Free and Lago at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Kong or Lago?: Kong starts at Free and Lago at Free.
Does Kong or Lago run on more platforms?: Kong runs on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes. Lago runs on Web, Cloud, Self-hosted, On-premise, VPC.
Can I use Kong for free?: Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Kong best used for?: Kong is most often used for api gateway management and routing, api development and testing, enterprise api security and governance. Of those, api gateway management and routing and api development and testing are not what Lago is typically brought in for.
What can Kong do that Lago cannot?: Kong covers API Gateway, Authentication & Authorization, Rate Limiting, Kubernetes. Lago covers Real-time usage metering, Multiple pricing models, Automated invoicing, Prepaid credits.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Kong: Does Kong offer a free trial?

Yes, Kong Konnect offers a 30-day free trial with full enterprise functionality, unlimited gateways, and no credit card required.

Source

Lago: Can I use Lago open-source for free?

Yes, Lago is open-source under the AGPLv3 license and can be self-hosted. The cloud-based Build plan is also free with limits of 10,000 entities and 5M events per month.

Source

Kong: How much does Kong Insomnia Pro cost?

Kong Insomnia Pro is $12 per user per month with 15% savings available for annual billing.

Source

Lago: What payment providers does Lago integrate with?

Lago integrates with Stripe and Adyen for payment processing. It is not a payment processor itself but orchestrates payments through these providers.

Source

Kong: What are Kong Konnect Plus API request limits?

Kong Konnect Plus includes 1M API requests per month; additional requests cost $200 per 1M (maximum 10M per month).

Source

Lago: Does Lago support multiple currencies?

Yes, Lago supports multi-currency billing with automatic currency conversion for global businesses.

Source

Kong: What is included in Kong Insomnia Enterprise?

Kong Insomnia Enterprise is $45 per user per month with SSO, SCIM, vault integrations, unlimited mock server requests, and Konnect integration.

Source

Kong vs Lago

Kong

Lago

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in Kong

Only in Lago

What people use each for

Kong

Lago

Where each one falls short

Kong

Lago

Pricing, plan by plan

Kong

Lago

Which should you pick?

Choose Kong if

Choose Lago if

Questions people ask

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Related pages

More on Kong

More on Lago

Keep looking

Other head to heads