Software · head to head
Kong vs Swagger
Kong
Software
Cloud-native API gateway and service connectivity platform
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
S
Swagger
Software
API design and documentation platform for building, testing, and managing APIs
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
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; Swagger swaggerHub, the commercial layer over the free open source Swagger tools, is sold in Free, Team and Enterprise tiers with the Enterprise tier requiring a sales contact and no public price, per the vendor pricing page
- They diverge on capability: Kong covers API Gateway, Swagger covers API Specification.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Kong and Swagger actually diverge.
Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Unknown).
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 Swagger
- API Specification
- Interactive Documentation
- Code Generation
- GitHub
- GitLab
- Azure DevOps
- Jira
- Web support
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
Kong
- Running an API gateway in front of internal and public servicesnot Swagger
- Publishing and governing APIs through a developer portalnot Swagger
Swagger
- API Developmentnot Kong
- API Gatewaynot Kong
- API Testingnot Kong
- API Documentationnot Kong
- Microservicesnot 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 $200 a month
- SSO and audit logging are Enterprise only
- Enterprise pricing is custom and billed annually
Swagger
- SwaggerHub, the commercial layer over the free open source Swagger tools, is sold in Free, Team and Enterprise tiers with the Enterprise tier requiring a sales contact and no public price, per the vendor pricing page
Pricing, plan by plan
Kong
Free- CommunityFree
- Core API gateway
- Community support
- Enterprise$undefined/monthly
- Advanced features
- Priority support
- SLA
Swagger
Free- FreeFree
- OpenAPI specification
- Swagger UI
- API documentation
- Professional$20/monthly
- Advanced features
- Team collaboration
- API testing
- Enterprise$undefined/monthly
- Custom deployment
- Advanced security
- 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.
Choose Swagger if
- You need api specification.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Web, CLI, Desktop.
- You also want interactive documentation.
Questions people ask
- Is Kong or Swagger better?
- Neither clearly leads. Kong starts at Free and Swagger at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Kong or Swagger?
- Kong starts at Free and Swagger at Free.
- Does Kong or Swagger run on more platforms?
- Kong runs on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes. Swagger runs on Web, CLI, Desktop.
- 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 running an api gateway in front of internal and public services, publishing and governing apis through a developer portal. Of those, running an api gateway in front of internal and public services and publishing and governing apis through a developer portal are not what Swagger is typically brought in for.
- What can Kong do that Swagger cannot?
- Kong covers API Gateway, Authentication & Authorization, Rate Limiting, Kubernetes. Swagger covers API Specification, Interactive Documentation, Code Generation, GitHub.