Is Kong or Paragon better?

Neither clearly leads. Kong starts at Free and Paragon at $299/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.

Which is cheaper, Kong or Paragon?

Kong has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Kong and $299/month for Paragon.

Does Kong or Paragon run on more platforms?

Kong runs on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes. Paragon runs on Web, Embedded.

Can I use Kong for free?

Yes. Kong has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Paragon starts at $299/month.

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 Paragon is typically brought in for.

What can Kong do that Paragon cannot?

Kong covers API Gateway, Authentication & Authorization, Rate Limiting, Kubernetes. Paragon covers Embedded workflows, Native integrations, Workflow builder, Error handling.

APIs · head to head

Kong vs Paragon

Kong

APIs

Cloud-native API gateway and service connectivity platform

From: Free
Rated: -

Full review Website

Paragon

Automation Integration

Embedded integration platform for SaaS

From: $299/month
Rated: -

Full review Website

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; Paragon no published pricing rates or specific plan costs
They diverge on capability: Kong covers API Gateway, Paragon covers Embedded workflows.
Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Kong and Paragon actually diverge.

Attributes where Kong and Paragon differ
Attribute	Kong	Paragon
Starting price	Free	$299/month
Free tier	Yes	No
Platforms	Linux, Docker, Kubernetes	Web, Embedded
Category	APIs	Automation Integration
Founded	2010	2021

Identical on both: pricing model (subscription), 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 Paragon

Embedded workflows
Native integrations
Workflow builder
Error handling
Monitoring
Analytics
Webhooks
500+ apps

What people use each for

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

Kong

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

Paragon

Embedding third party integrations into a SaaS productnot Kong
Managing customer facing connectors without building each onenot 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

Paragon

No published pricing rates or specific plan costs
Pricing is entirely custom based on Connected Users
Both Pro and Enterprise plans require direct contact for pricing

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

Paragon

$299/month

Starter$299/month
- 50 integrations
- Basic support
Growth$999/month
- 200 integrations
- Priority support
Enterprise$5000/month
- Unlimited integrations
- Dedicated support

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 Paragon if

You need embedded workflows.
You work on Web, Embedded.
You also want native integrations.

Paragon review

Questions people ask

Is Kong or Paragon better?: Neither clearly leads. Kong starts at Free and Paragon at $299/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Kong or Paragon?: Kong has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Kong and $299/month for Paragon.
Does Kong or Paragon run on more platforms?: Kong runs on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes. Paragon runs on Web, Embedded.
Can I use Kong for free?: Yes. Kong has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Paragon starts at $299/month.
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 Paragon is typically brought in for.
What can Kong do that Paragon cannot?: Kong covers API Gateway, Authentication & Authorization, Rate Limiting, Kubernetes. Paragon covers Embedded workflows, Native integrations, Workflow builder, Error handling.

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

Paragon: How much does Paragon cost?

Paragon does not publish pricing rates. The company uses a custom pricing model based on Connected Users (the number of tenant organizations using integrations), requiring customers to request custom quotes.

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

Paragon: What are Paragon's pricing plans?

Paragon offers Pro and Enterprise plans. The Pro plan includes unlimited integrations, access to all three products, and custom integrations. The Enterprise plan adds self-hosted options, priority support with SLAs, and SAML SSO.

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

Paragon: Does Paragon offer a free trial?

Yes, a free trial is available via signup, though specific trial duration and limitations are not detailed on the pricing page.

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

Paragon: How does Paragon determine the cost of my plan?

Pricing is customized based on business model and the number of Connected Users, meaning organizations must contact Paragon's sales team for a custom quote.

Source

Kong vs Paragon

Kong

Paragon

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in Kong

Only in Paragon

What people use each for

Kong

Paragon

Where each one falls short

Kong

Paragon

Pricing, plan by plan

Kong

Paragon

Which should you pick?

Choose Kong if

Choose Paragon if

Questions people ask

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Related pages

More on Kong

More on Paragon

Keep looking

Other head to heads