Is Kong or Portkey better?

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

Which is cheaper, Kong or Portkey?

Kong has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Kong and On request for Portkey.

Does Kong or Portkey run on more platforms?

Kong runs on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes. Portkey runs on Web.

Can I use Kong for free?

Yes. Kong has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Portkey 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 Portkey is typically brought in for.

What can Kong do that Portkey cannot?

Kong covers API Gateway, Authentication & Authorization, Rate Limiting, Kubernetes.

APIs · head to head

Kong vs Portkey

Kong

APIs

Cloud-native API gateway and service connectivity platform

From: Free
Rated: -

Full review Website

Portkey

APIs

Observe, govern, and secure every AI interaction across your enterprise

From: On request
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; Portkey the free Developer tier records only 10,000 logs per month with 3 day log retention; the $49 per month Production tier raises that to 100,000 logs with $9 per additional 100,000 requests, as of August 2026.
Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Kong and Portkey actually diverge.

Attributes where Kong and Portkey differ
Attribute	Kong	Portkey
Starting price	Free	On request
Pricing model	subscription	Unknown
Free tier	Yes	No
Platforms	Linux, Docker, Kubernetes	Web
Founded	2010	Unknown

Identical on both: 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

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

Only in Portkey

Nothing recorded that Kong does not also cover.

What people use each for

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

Kong

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

Portkey

Accessing 1,600+ language models through unified API gatewaynot Kong
Monitoring and observing LLM behavior in production environmentsnot Kong
Managing costs and setting budget limits for AI spendingnot Kong
Implementing guardrails and PII redaction for secure AI interactionsnot 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

Portkey

The free Developer tier records only 10,000 logs per month with 3 day log retention; the $49 per month Production tier raises that to 100,000 logs with $9 per additional 100,000 requests, as of August 2026.

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

Portkey

On request

No published plan breakdown. See the Portkey review.

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 Portkey if

Nothing in the data separates Portkey from Kong on the points above - pick on price and on how each one feels to use.

Portkey review

Questions people ask

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

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

Portkey: What happens if I exceed my Portkey plan's request limit?

Production tier ($49/month) charges $9 per additional 100,000 requests beyond the included 100,000. Enterprise customers have custom limits determined through their service agreement. Source: https://portkey.ai/pricing

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

Portkey: Can I self-host Portkey to avoid per-request billing?

Yes. Portkey offers an Open Source self-hosted version with unlimited requests at no cost, including universal API, routing, guardrails, and load balancing features. Source: https://portkey.ai/pricing

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

Portkey: How long does Portkey retain my logs and metrics?

Free Developer tier retains logs 3 days and metrics 30 days. Production tier retains logs 30 days and metrics 90 days. Enterprise tier offers custom retention periods. Source: https://portkey.ai/pricing

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

Portkey: What compliance features are included in the Enterprise plan?

Enterprise tier includes SOC2 Type 2 certification, GDPR compliance, HIPAA compliance, VPC hosting, SSO, advanced guardrails, and dedicated support. Custom pricing required. Source: https://portkey.ai/pricing

Source

Kong vs Portkey

Kong

Portkey

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in Kong

Only in Portkey

What people use each for

Kong

Portkey

Where each one falls short

Kong

Portkey

Pricing, plan by plan

Kong

Portkey

Which should you pick?

Choose Kong if

Choose Portkey if

Questions people ask

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Related pages

More on Kong

More on Portkey

Keep looking

Other head to heads