Softwr

APIs · head to head

Kong vs Presto

Kong logo

Kong

APIs

Cloud-native API gateway and service connectivity platform

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Presto logo

Presto

Databases

The Meta-lineage distributed SQL query engine, distinct from the Trino fork

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

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; Presto the original creators and most of the active contributor base left for Trino in 2020, so Presto has the smaller community, fewer connectors and slower feature delivery of the two branches.
  • They diverge on capability: Kong covers API Gateway, Presto covers Federated querying.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Kong and Presto actually diverge.

Attributes where Kong and Presto differ
AttributeKongPresto
Pricing modelsubscriptionOpen source, no licence fee
CategoryAPIsDatabases
Founded2010Unknown

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), platforms (Linux, Docker, Kubernetes), 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 Presto

  • Federated querying
  • In-memory execution
  • Open table format support
  • Presto C++ workers
  • ANSI SQL
  • Pluggable connectors

What people use each for

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

Kong

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

Presto

  • An existing PrestoDB estate that needs continued upgrades rather than a migration to Trinonot Kong
  • A team buying IBM watsonx.data, where Presto is the underlying query enginenot Kong
  • Joining a Hive or Iceberg lake to an operational PostgreSQL database in one query without an ETL stepnot Kong
  • Very large scale interactive SQL where the Meta-tested branch is a specific requirementnot 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

Presto

  • The original creators and most of the active contributor base left for Trino in 2020, so Presto has the smaller community, fewer connectors and slower feature delivery of the two branches.
  • Documentation, tutorials and Stack Overflow answers for the two projects are frequently mixed up, and a solution written for Trino often does not apply, which costs real debugging time.
  • It is a query engine with no storage of its own, so query performance is dictated by your file layout, partitioning and statistics, and a badly organised lake makes Presto look slow.
  • Memory-bound execution means a single large join can fail the whole query rather than spilling gracefully, and tuning cluster memory settings is a persistent operational chore.
  • Commercial support has consolidated into IBM since the Ahana acquisition, so the independent vendor market that once existed around Presto is largely gone.

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

Presto

Free
  • PrestoFree
    • Apache 2.0 licence
    • Presto Foundation governance under the Linux Foundation
    • No node or query limits

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 Presto if

  • You need federated querying.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes.
  • You also want in-memory execution.
Presto review

Questions people ask

Is Kong or Presto better?
Neither clearly leads. Kong starts at Free and Presto at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Kong or Presto?
Kong starts at Free and Presto at Free.
Does Kong or Presto run on more platforms?
Both run on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
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 Presto is typically brought in for.
What can Kong do that Presto cannot?
Kong covers API Gateway, Authentication & Authorization, Rate Limiting, Kubernetes. Presto covers Federated querying, In-memory execution, Open table format support, Presto C++ workers.

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
Presto: Is this Presto or Trino?

This is PrestoDB, the branch that stayed at Facebook and moved to the Linux Foundation. Trino is the 2020 fork by the original creators.

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
Presto: Which should I choose for a new project?

Trino, in most cases. It has the larger community, more connectors and more commercial options.

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
Presto: Who maintains Presto now?

Principally Meta, Uber and IBM, which acquired the Presto vendor Ahana in 2023.

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
Presto: Is it still actively released?

Yes, releases continue on a regular cadence under the Presto Foundation.

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