Is Kong or QuestDB better?

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

Which is cheaper, Kong or QuestDB?

Kong starts at Free and QuestDB at Free.

Does Kong or QuestDB run on more platforms?

Kong runs on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes. QuestDB runs on Docker, Kubernetes, Cloud (AWS, Azure, GCP).

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 QuestDB is typically brought in for.

What can Kong do that QuestDB cannot?

Kong covers API Gateway, Authentication & Authorization, Rate Limiting, Kubernetes. QuestDB covers High Throughput Ingestion, SQL Support, Time-series Optimization, SIMD Vectorization. Both handle PostgreSQL, Linux support, Docker support.

APIs · head to head

Kong vs QuestDB

Kong

APIs

Cloud-native API gateway and service connectivity platform

From: Free
Rated: -

Full review Website

QuestDB

Databases

Fast open source time-series database for high throughput ingestion

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; QuestDB open-source edition lacks high-availability, distributed architecture, and enterprise security features
They diverge on capability: Kong covers API Gateway, QuestDB covers High Throughput Ingestion.
Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Kong and QuestDB actually diverge.

Attributes where Kong and QuestDB differ
Attribute	Kong	QuestDB
Pricing model	subscription	open-source
Platforms	Linux, Docker, Kubernetes	Docker, Kubernetes, Cloud (AWS, Azure, GCP)
Category	APIs	Databases
Founded	2010	2014

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
Kubernetes support

Only in QuestDB

High Throughput Ingestion
SQL Support
Time-series Optimization
SIMD Vectorization
Column-oriented Storage
Built-in Web Console
InfluxDB Line Protocol
Grafana

Both cover

PostgreSQL
Linux support
Docker support

What people use each for

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

Kong

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

QuestDB

Time-series analytics ingesting up to 20M rows/second from IoT sensors or financial data feedsnot Kong
Real-time dashboarding with 32ms time-to-first-row latency for minute-level analyticsnot Kong
Applications requiring multi-tier storage (hot ingest, real-time SQL, cold Parquet archive)not 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

QuestDB

Open-source edition lacks high-availability, distributed architecture, and enterprise security features
Enterprise edition pricing not published; requires contacting sales for custom quote
Ingestion limit of 20M rows/sec platform-dependent; may not scale to extreme throughput requirements

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

QuestDB

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the QuestDB 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 QuestDB if

You need high throughput ingestion.
You want to start without paying.
You work on Docker, Kubernetes, Cloud (AWS, Azure, GCP).
You also want sql support.

QuestDB review

Questions people ask

Is Kong or QuestDB better?: Neither clearly leads. Kong starts at Free and QuestDB at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Kong or QuestDB?: Kong starts at Free and QuestDB at Free.
Does Kong or QuestDB run on more platforms?: Kong runs on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes. QuestDB runs on Docker, Kubernetes, Cloud (AWS, Azure, GCP).
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 QuestDB is typically brought in for.
What can Kong do that QuestDB cannot?: Kong covers API Gateway, Authentication & Authorization, Rate Limiting, Kubernetes. QuestDB covers High Throughput Ingestion, SQL Support, Time-series Optimization, SIMD Vectorization. Both handle PostgreSQL, Linux support, Docker support.

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

QuestDB: How much does QuestDB Enterprise cost?

QuestDB does not publish specific pricing for the Enterprise tier. Customers must contact QuestDB via their enterprise contact form to receive a custom quote.

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

QuestDB: Does QuestDB offer a free version?

Yes, QuestDB Open Source is completely free and recommended for evaluation, prototyping, and pilot projects. Enterprise features, high availability, security, and dedicated support require the paid Enterprise tier.

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

QuestDB: What deployment options does QuestDB offer?

QuestDB offers open source deployment, Enterprise deployment, and Bring Your Own Cloud (BYOC) deployment. Pricing details for BYOC and Enterprise tiers are not published and require direct contact with sales.

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 QuestDB

Kong

QuestDB

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in Kong

Only in QuestDB

Both cover

What people use each for

Kong

QuestDB

Where each one falls short

Kong

QuestDB

Pricing, plan by plan

Kong

QuestDB

Which should you pick?

Choose Kong if

Choose QuestDB if

Questions people ask

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Related pages

More on Kong

More on QuestDB

Keep looking

Other head to heads