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APIs · head to head

Kong vs OpsLevel

Kong logo

Kong

APIs

Cloud-native API gateway and service connectivity platform

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
OpsLevel logo

OpsLevel

Developer Tools

Internal developer portal that scores service ownership and production readiness

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Kong has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Kong the Plus plan includes 1M API requests a month and charges $200 a month for each additional million; OpsLevel opsLevel does not publish prices at all, not even a starting figure, so you cannot size a budget or compare against Backstage's zero licence cost without entering a sales cycle.
  • They diverge on capability: Kong covers API Gateway, OpsLevel covers Service catalogue.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Kong and OpsLevel actually diverge.

Attributes where Kong and OpsLevel differ
AttributeKongOpsLevel
Starting priceFreeOn request
Pricing modelsubscriptionquote
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsLinux, Docker, KubernetesWeb
CategoryAPIsDeveloper Tools
Founded2010Unknown

Identical on both: 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 OpsLevel

  • Service catalogue
  • Scorecards and rubric
  • Checks
  • Campaigns
  • Self-service actions
  • Slack and Teams integration
  • Catalogue auto-enrichment
  • Deployment on request

What people use each for

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

Kong

  • API gateway management and routingnot OpsLevel
  • API development and testingnot OpsLevel
  • Enterprise API security and governancenot OpsLevel

OpsLevel

  • A platform team that needs to prove every production service has a named owner and an on-call rota before an auditnot Kong
  • Driving a fleet-wide migration such as a runtime upgrade across 400 services with a deadline and visible progressnot Kong
  • Giving developers a paved road to create a new service from a template without waiting on the platform teamnot Kong
  • An organisation where an incident took an hour to route because nobody could identify the owning teamnot 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

OpsLevel

  • OpsLevel does not publish prices at all, not even a starting figure, so you cannot size a budget or compare against Backstage's zero licence cost without entering a sales cycle.
  • The Standard plan caps at 50 users, which is below the size at which service ownership becomes a real problem, so most genuine buyers land on Enterprise and its unpublished pricing.
  • Scores are only as honest as the metadata teams maintain; where ownership records go stale the rubric produces confident numbers about a catalogue that no longer reflects reality, and leadership acts on them.
  • It reports on quality rather than producing it, so it can generate friction between platform teams who set the rubric and product teams who see it as a scoreboard imposed on them without extra headcount to fix the findings.
  • As a hosted product it needs read access to source control, cloud accounts and observability tooling, which is a meaningful vendor review in regulated environments; on-premises exists but only on the Enterprise tier.

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

OpsLevel

On request
  • Standard$undefined/year
    • Up to 50 users
    • Unlimited catalogued components
    • Scorecards, campaigns and the global rubric
  • Enterprise$undefined/year
    • Unlimited users
    • Custom integrations
    • Customisable dashboards

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 OpsLevel if

  • You need service catalogue.
  • You also want scorecards and rubric.
OpsLevel review

Questions people ask

Is Kong or OpsLevel better?
Neither clearly leads. Kong starts at Free and OpsLevel at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Kong or OpsLevel?
Kong has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Kong and On request for OpsLevel.
Does Kong or OpsLevel run on more platforms?
Kong runs on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes. OpsLevel runs on Web.
Can I use Kong for free?
Yes. Kong has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. OpsLevel starts at On request.
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 OpsLevel is typically brought in for.
What can Kong do that OpsLevel cannot?
Kong covers API Gateway, Authentication & Authorization, Rate Limiting, Kubernetes. OpsLevel covers Service catalogue, Scorecards and rubric, Checks, Campaigns.

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
OpsLevel: How much does OpsLevel cost?

It does not publish pricing. Billing is per developer using the portal, with volume discounts, and a quote requires a sales conversation.

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
OpsLevel: How does it compare with Backstage?

Backstage has no licence fee but you staff a team to build and run it. OpsLevel is hosted with checks, campaigns and scorecards out of the box, and you pay per developer instead.

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
OpsLevel: Does it require writing catalogue YAML by hand?

No. It auto-discovers and enriches entries from connected systems, though teams still curate ownership and metadata.

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
OpsLevel: Can it run on premises?

Yes, but only on the Enterprise plan.

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