Software · head to head
Treblle vs Kong Gateway
Treblle
Software
API observability, security, and governance platform
- From
- $233/month
- Rated
- -
Kong Gateway
Software
Open-source and cloud API gateway for managing microservices traffic
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Only Kong Gateway has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
- Each has a real cost: Treblle no free tier is offered; the entry-level Core plan starts at $233/month billed yearly.; Kong Gateway the free open-source gateway lacks the analytics, portals, and support of the paid Konnect tiers.
- They diverge on capability: Treblle covers API discovery, Kong Gateway covers API request routing.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Treblle and Kong Gateway actually diverge.
| Attribute | Treblle | Kong Gateway |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | $233/month | Free |
| Pricing model | subscription | freemium |
| Free tier | No | Yes |
| Platforms | web, api | web, linux, api |
| Founded | Unknown | 2017 |
Identical on both: 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 Treblle
- API discovery
- Runtime security
- API governance
- Compliance monitoring
- API documentation and analytics
- Agentic AI support
Only in Kong Gateway
- API request routing
- Plugin ecosystem
- Developer portals
- AI Gateway
- Analytics and observability
- SSO and audit logs
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
Treblle
- Gaining full visibility into API traffic across multi-cloud environmentsnot Kong Gateway
- Detecting shadow APIs and runtime security risksnot Kong Gateway
- Meeting compliance audit requirements such as HIPAA or GDPRnot Kong Gateway
- Governing API design standards through CI/CDnot Kong Gateway
Kong Gateway
- Routing and securing traffic across microservicesnot Treblle
- Publishing internal or external developer portalsnot Treblle
- Managing rate limits and authentication at the API edgenot Treblle
- Gateway-level routing to multiple LLM providersnot Treblle
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
Treblle
- No free tier is offered; the entry-level Core plan starts at $233/month billed yearly.
- Growth and Enterprise pricing is custom and not published, requiring a sales conversation to budget.
- Core plan is limited to 1 workspace and only 30 days of data retention.
- SSO and on-prem/BYO cloud deployment are reserved for the top Enterprise tier.
Kong Gateway
- The free open-source gateway lacks the analytics, portals, and support of the paid Konnect tiers.
- Plus tier caps API requests at 1M/month before incurring per-million overage charges.
- Enterprise pricing is custom and not published, making budgeting harder without sales contact.
- Configuration and plugin management can require significant operational expertise to run at scale.
Pricing, plan by plan
Treblle
$233/month- Core$233/month
- Billed yearly
- 5 APIs
- 500 requests/min
- Growth$undefined/month
- Custom APIs and request limits
- 50M requests/month baseline
- API security
- Enterprise$undefined/month
- Unlimited workspaces, APIs, and requests/min
- API governance and compliance
- SSO
Kong Gateway
Free- Free TrialFree
- 30-day enterprise functionality trial
- Unlimited gateways
- 30-day analytics retention
- Plus$undefined/month
- Up to 5 serverless, 2 hybrid, 2 dedicated cloud gateways
- 1M API requests/month included
- Up to 2 developer portals
- Enterprise$undefined/month
- Unlimited hybrid and dedicated cloud gateways
- Unlimited developer portals
- SSO and audit logs
Which should you pick?
Choose Treblle if
- You need api discovery.
- You work on web, api.
- You also want runtime security.
Choose Kong Gateway if
- You need api request routing.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on web, linux, api.
- You also want plugin ecosystem.
Questions people ask
- Is Treblle or Kong Gateway better?
- Neither clearly leads. Treblle starts at $233/month and Kong Gateway at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Treblle or Kong Gateway?
- Kong Gateway has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $233/month for Treblle and Free for Kong Gateway.
- Does Treblle or Kong Gateway run on more platforms?
- Treblle runs on web, api. Kong Gateway runs on web, linux, api.
- Can I use Kong Gateway for free?
- Yes. Kong Gateway has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Treblle starts at $233/month.
- What is Treblle best used for?
- Treblle is most often used for gaining full visibility into api traffic across multi-cloud environments, detecting shadow apis and runtime security risks, meeting compliance audit requirements such as hipaa or gdpr, governing api design standards through ci/cd. Of those, gaining full visibility into api traffic across multi-cloud environments and detecting shadow apis and runtime security risks are not what Kong Gateway is typically brought in for.
- What can Treblle do that Kong Gateway cannot?
- Treblle covers API discovery, Runtime security, API governance, Compliance monitoring. Kong Gateway covers API request routing, Plugin ecosystem, Developer portals, AI Gateway.
Answered from the vendors’ own pages
Treblle: What does Treblle cost?
Treblle's Core plan costs $233/month billed yearly and covers 5 APIs and 5M requests/month; Growth and Enterprise plans use custom pricing for larger request volumes and advanced features.
SourceKong Gateway: Is Kong Gateway free?
Kong's core gateway is open source and free to self-host. Kong Konnect, the managed cloud platform, offers a 30-day free trial before moving to paid Plus or custom Enterprise pricing.
SourceTreblle: Is there a free plan?
Treblle does not offer a free tier; it instead offers a no-credit-card demo rather than free ongoing access.
SourceKong Gateway: How is usage metered on the Plus plan?
The Plus plan includes 1M API requests per month, with additional usage billed at $200 per extra 1 million requests up to a 10M/month cap, plus per-gateway and per-LLM-model charges.
SourceTreblle: How is usage metered?
Plans are metered by number of APIs monitored and requests per minute/month, with the Core plan capped at 500 requests/min and 5M requests/month.
SourceKong Gateway: What support is included?
Plus includes email support with a 2-business-day SLA, while Enterprise adds dedicated success managers and professional services.
SourceRelated pages
More on Kong Gateway
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