Is Kong or Strapi better?

Neither clearly leads. Kong starts at Free and Strapi at $35/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.

Which is cheaper, Kong or Strapi?

Kong has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Kong and $35/month for Strapi.

Does Kong or Strapi run on more platforms?

Kong runs on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes. Strapi runs on Node.js, Cloud, Self-hosted, Docker.

Can I use Kong for free?

Yes. Kong has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Strapi starts at $35/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 Strapi is typically brought in for.

What can Kong do that Strapi cannot?

Kong covers API Gateway, Authentication & Authorization, Rate Limiting, Kubernetes. Strapi covers REST API, GraphQL API, Content management, MySQL. Both handle PostgreSQL, Docker support.

APIs · head to head

Kong vs Strapi

Kong

APIs

Cloud-native API gateway and service connectivity platform

From: Free
Rated: -

Full review Website

Strapi

APIs

Headless CMS with REST and GraphQL APIs

From: $35/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; Strapi cloud pricing is per project, not per account, so a second project doubles the bill
They diverge on capability: Kong covers API Gateway, Strapi covers REST API.
Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Kong and Strapi actually diverge.

Attributes where Kong and Strapi differ
Attribute	Kong	Strapi
Starting price	Free	$35/month
Free tier	Yes	No
Platforms	Linux, Docker, Kubernetes	Node.js, Cloud, Self-hosted, Docker
Founded	2010	2015

Identical on both: pricing model (subscription), 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
Linux support
Kubernetes support

Only in Strapi

REST API
GraphQL API
Content management
MySQL
MongoDB
AWS
Webhooks
Node.js support

Both cover

PostgreSQL
Docker support

What people use each for

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

Kong

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

Strapi

Running a self hosted headless CMS with a REST or GraphQL APInot Kong
Giving editors a content admin panel over a custom content modelnot 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

Strapi

Cloud pricing is per project, not per account, so a second project doubles the bill
Starter at $35 a month allows 100,000 API requests, and overage is $1.50 per 25,000
Extra bandwidth is $30 per 100 GB and extra asset storage $0.60 per GB
Backups start at the Pro plan, weekly, and only become daily at Business
An uptime SLA is Business only, at $450 a month per project
Additional environments cost $60 a month on Pro and $300 a month on Business

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

Strapi

$35/month

Starter$35/month
- 100k API requests
- 50 GB asset storage
- 50 GB asset bandwidth
Pro$90/month
- 1M API requests
- 250 GB asset storage
- 500 GB asset bandwidth
Business$450/month
- 10M API requests
- 1000 GB asset storage
- 1000 GB asset bandwidth

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 Strapi if

You need rest api.
You work on Node.js, Cloud, Self-hosted, Docker.
You also want graphql api.

Strapi review

Questions people ask

Is Kong or Strapi better?: Neither clearly leads. Kong starts at Free and Strapi at $35/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Kong or Strapi?: Kong has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Kong and $35/month for Strapi.
Does Kong or Strapi run on more platforms?: Kong runs on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes. Strapi runs on Node.js, Cloud, Self-hosted, Docker.
Can I use Kong for free?: Yes. Kong has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Strapi starts at $35/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 Strapi is typically brought in for.
What can Kong do that Strapi cannot?: Kong covers API Gateway, Authentication & Authorization, Rate Limiting, Kubernetes. Strapi covers REST API, GraphQL API, Content management, MySQL. Both handle PostgreSQL, 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

Strapi: How much do API request overages cost?

Additional API requests beyond the plan limit cost $1.50 per 25000 requests. Extra asset storage costs $0.60 per GB, and additional bandwidth costs $30 per 100 GB.

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

Strapi: Is yearly billing available?

Yes, yearly billing saves up to 17% compared to monthly billing on Strapi Cloud plans.

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

Strapi: What is included with the Pro plan?

The Pro plan costs $90 per month per project and includes 1M API requests, 250 GB asset storage, 500 GB bandwidth, multi-environment support, weekly backups, and manual backups.

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 Strapi

Kong

Strapi

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in Kong

Only in Strapi

Both cover

What people use each for

Kong

Strapi

Where each one falls short

Kong

Strapi

Pricing, plan by plan

Kong

Strapi

Which should you pick?

Choose Kong if

Choose Strapi if

Questions people ask

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Related pages

More on Kong

More on Strapi

Keep looking

Other head to heads