API Management · pricing
3scale pricing
3scale publishes 3 tiers. Below is each one, what it adds over the tier beneath it, and where the ladder stops being worth climbing for most people.
- Entry price
- $300/monthly
- Model
- Subscription
- Tiers
- 3
- Free tier
- Not on record
3scale plans, side by side
Every published tier in ascending order of price, with the number of features each one lists. An absence here means the record does not itemise it, not that the tier lacks it.
| Plan | Price | Features listed | Step up from the tier below |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | $300/monthly | 3 | Entry tier |
| Professional | $750/monthly | 3 | +$450/monthly, 3 more features |
| Enterprise | On request | 3 | Priced on request |
What each tier adds
The set difference between each tier's feature list and the one beneath it. Where a tier lists nothing new, the vendor has either stopped repeating the inherited list or the tier raises limits rather than adding capability, the record does not distinguish the two, so this page does not either.
Starter
$300/monthlyThe entry tier. It covers api gateway, developer portal, basic analytics.
Professional
$750/monthlyOver Starter, this tier adds:
- Advanced features
- API monetization
- Enhanced support
Enterprise
On requestOver Professional, this tier adds:
- Custom deployment
- Dedicated support
- Premium SLA
What the product covers
The full 3scale feature record, grouped as the catalogue groups it. This is the product as a whole; the record does not map every feature onto a specific tier.
Core
- API Gateway
- Developer Portal
- API Monetization
Integrations
- Red Hat OpenShift
- AWS
- Azure
- Kubernetes
Platform
- Cloud support
- On-premises support
- Hybrid support
People bring 3scale in for api gateway and lifecycle management, rate limiting and traffic control across api consumers, developer portal and access key management, monetising apis with usage-based plans, hybrid deployment across on-premises and cloud. If that is not the job you are buying for, the alternatives to 3scale are worth a look before you commit to a tier.
How that compares in API Management
Across the 5 api management tools in this directory that publish a starting price, the median entry point is $500/month. 3scale starts at $300/monthly, which puts it below the middle of its category.
| Tool | Entry price | Model | Rated | Head to head |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3scale (this page) | $300/monthly | subscription | - | |
| Backendless | Free, then $15/month | - | - | vs 3scale |
| Asyncapi | Free | open-source | - | vs 3scale |
| Akana | $2500/monthly | subscription | - | vs 3scale |
| Boomi API Management | $1500/monthly | subscription | - | vs 3scale |
| AWS API Gateway | Free | usage-based | - | vs 3scale |
| Appwrite | Free, then $15/month | - | - | vs 3scale |
Ratings are aggregated from third-party sources and imported with each catalogue entry, they are not reviews hosted on Softwr. How each figure is used is set out on the 3scale badges page.
Before you pay for 3scale
Three things this page cannot tell you, and all three change the bill. The record carries a price and a billing period but not the unit - per-seat and flat-rate pricing are indistinguishable in this data, so a five-person team may be looking at five times the figure above. It carries no annual rate, so any discount for paying yearly is not something this page can quote. And it carries no trial length.
What it can tell you is the shape of the ladder: 3 tiers between $300/monthly and On request, with the jump itemised above. With no free tier on record, the cheapest way to answer the rest is to compare 3scale against the tools that do have one before committing.
3scale runs on cloud, on-premises, hybrid, and is published by Red Hat of Raleigh, North Carolina, USA. The full record is on the 3scale review, and the rest of the category is under best api management tools.
3scale pricing questions
- How much does 3scale cost?
- 3scale publishes 3 tiers, from $300/monthly for Starter up to On request for Enterprise. The cheapest paid tier is $300/monthly.
- Does 3scale have a free plan?
- Not on the record we hold: 3scale is listed as subscription. Whether a free trial is offered is not something this record captures, so check the vendor's site.
- What is the difference between Starter and Professional on 3scale?
- Professional costs $750/monthly against $300/monthly, and adds advanced features, api monetization, enhanced support.
- Is the Enterprise plan on 3scale worth it?
- That depends entirely on whether you need what it adds, which on the published record is custom deployment, dedicated support, premium sla. It costs On request against $300/monthly for Starter. Softwr has not used either tier, so this page can tell you what changes, not whether it is worth the difference to you.
- Is 3scale expensive for a api management tool?
- It starts below the middle of its category. Across the 5 api management tools in this directory that publish a starting price, the median entry point is $500/month; 3scale starts at $300/monthly.
- Which api management tools can I use without paying?
- 5 of the 8 api management tools listed alongside 3scale have a free tier: Backendless, Asyncapi, AWS API Gateway, Appwrite, Microsoft Azure API Management.
- What am I actually paying for with 3scale?
- The record lists 10 features across 3 areas: core, integrations, platform. In practice it is brought in for api gateway and lifecycle management, rate limiting and traffic control across api consumers, developer portal and access key management.
- Does 3scale charge per user?
- The record carries a price and a billing period for each of its 3 tiers, but not the unit that price is charged in. Per-seat and flat-rate billing look identical in this data, so check the vendor's page before budgeting for a team.
- Are these 3scale prices current?
- They are what the catalogue entry holds, refreshed when the entry is. Vendors change pricing without notice and nobody at Softwr re-verifies each tier by hand, so treat this as a structured summary and the vendor's own pricing page as the authority.
- What should I compare 3scale against before paying?
- The closest api management tools in this directory are Backendless, Asyncapi, Akana, Boomi API Management. Each has a side-by-side comparison with 3scale covering price, platforms and features.