Price checkMonthly
Open SourceFreePlus$25/moEnterpriseCustom
See all 3 plans

All Kong Plans & Pricing

Plan Monthly Annual Best For
View all features by plan (compare side-by-side)

Open Source

  • Core API gateway features
  • Load balancing
  • Health checks
  • Rate limiting
  • Authentication plugins
  • Logging and monitoring
  • Community support
  • Self-hosted deployment
  • Unlimited API calls

Plus

  • 30-day free trial ($0, no credit card, full Enterprise functionality)
  • Serverless Gateway control plane: $25/mo each (up to 5)
  • Hybrid Gateway control plane: $200/mo each (up to 2)
  • Dedicated Cloud Gateway control plane: $500/mo each + $0.15/GB bandwidth
  • 1M API requests/mo included; $200/mo per additional 1M (up to 10M)
  • AI Gateway model proxy: $100/mo per model (up to 5)
  • Developer Portal: 1 included, $200/mo per additional (up to 2)
  • Published APIs: 2 included, $20/mo for first 10 / $10/mo each extra (up to 20)
  • Service Catalog for 2 services
  • RBAC, advanced analytics
  • Email support with 2-business-day SLA

Enterprise

  • Everything in Plus
  • No Gateway limits (unlimited Hybrid & Dedicated Cloud Gateways)
  • Fully self-hosted API gateways available
  • Unlimited Developer Portals and published APIs
  • Unlimited Services in Service Catalog
  • Audit Logs, SSO
  • Dedicated Proof of Concept with Kong team
  • Dedicated Customer Success Managers and Technical Account Managers
  • Professional services and migration support
  • Higher SLAs
See Kong Plans
Compare Kong with alternativesAdjust seats, lock a tier, add up to 2 more products side-by-side. Shareable URL.
Cost calculator

What does Kong actually cost you?

Drag the slider. Pick a tier. Your projected spend updates as you go.

Tier
Billing
Your projected cost$625per month · $25/unit × 25units
Year 1 license$7.5K12 months at this rate
At a glance

List price by tier (annualized, per unit)

Per-unit list price across Kong's plans, annualized. Custom-priced tiers show a hatched bar.

Open SourceCustom
Plus$300/yr
EnterpriseCustom
Real-world benchmark

Buyers actually pay a median of $65K/yr for Kong contracts (Vendr deal flow, n=32). That's a contract total — the more seats, the more leverage to negotiate down.

Quick Answer
Last verified:
Medium confidence

Kong costs Free to $500 per month as of July 2026, with 3 plans available including a free tier. Plans: Open Source (free), and Plus at $25/month. Enterprise pricing is available on request. The median contract is $65,328/year based on 32 verified purchases.

Use the interactive pricing calculator to estimate your exact cost based on team size and requirements.

  • Free tier: Yes

Kong offers 3 pricing tiers: Open Source, Plus, Enterprise. A free plan is available. Paid plans include Plus at $25/per control plane/month. The Plus plan is smaller companies getting started building out their api programs with usage-based, per-gateway pricing.

Compared to other api management software, Kong is positioned at the premium price point.

  • Median contract: $65,328/yr from 32 purchases Precise
  • 10 documented hidden costs beyond list price
Last verified: | Sources: 2 pricing pages and reviews

How much does Kong cost?

Kong offers 3 pricing plans, starting with a free tier and scaling to custom enterprise pricing. Plans include Open Source (free), Plus at $25/month, Enterprise (custom pricing).

Kong Pricing Overview

Kong has 3 pricing plans, including a free tier. Paid plans range from $0 to $500/month. The Open Source plan is free and is best for developers and small teams wanting a free, self-hosted api gateway with core features. The Plus plan costs $25/month, best for smaller companies getting started building out their api programs with usage-based, per-gateway pricing. The Enterprise plan requires contacting sales for a custom quote and is designed for medium and larger organizations building an api platform for high-volume, business-critical api, ai, and event-streaming traffic.

Kong with a $30,000–$50,000 annually for small deployments minimum commitment.

The median Kong customer pays $65,328/year based on 32 verified purchases.

There are at least 10 documented hidden costs beyond Kong's list price, including implementation, training, and add-on fees.

This pricing was last verified in July 2, 2026 from 2 independent sources.

See Kong Plans
Kong is an open-source API gateway and microservices management platform that enables developers to manage, secure, and scale APIs across any cloud or on-premises environment. Built on top of NGINX, Kong offers a flexible, plugin-based architecture that supports everything from basic API routing to advanced features like rate limiting, authentication, and observability. With Kong Konnect, the cloud-native control plane, organizations can manage APIs across hybrid and multi-cloud environments while maintaining high performance and reliability.

How Kong Pricing Compares

Compare Kong pricing against top alternatives in API Management.

AWS API Gateway $0-$3.5/mo Compare → Stoplight $0-$453.0/mo Compare → Apigee $0-$3431.0/mo Compare →

Compare Kong vs Alternatives

Before committing to Kong, compare pricing with these 3 alternatives in the same category.

VSAWS API Gateway
Free

New AWS customers exploring API Gateway, startups, and low-volume applications within free tier limits

Full comparison
VSStoplight
Free

Small teams collaborating on API design and needing hosted documentation for internal or external use

Full comparison
VSApigee
Free

Teams evaluating Apigee for their API management needs with no upfront commitment

Full comparison

All Kong alternatives & migration guides

What Companies Actually Pay for Kong

The median Kong buyer pays $65,328/year based on 32 verified purchase transactions.

What companies actually pay $65,328/yr Median across 32 purchases Precise
Review scores
Trustpilot 1out of 5 (1)
Third-party review aggregates, as of Feb 2026
Top pricing complaints
Sends unsolicited emails
Source: Vendr buyer database — median calculated from 32 real purchase transactions. Savings figure reflects negotiated discounts reported by buyers.

Kong Year 1 Total Cost by Company Size

Real deployment costs including licenses, implementation, training, and admin — not just the sticker price.

Enterprise License (Vendr Median) $65,328 Year 1 total

Typical annual contract cost based on 32 Vendr deals for teams purchasing Kong Enterprise.

Vendr (deal flow, 32 purchases)

How Kong Pricing Compares

Software Starting Price Top Price
Kong Free $500/month
Apigee Free $3431/month
AWS API Gateway Free $3.5/month
MuleSoft Anypoint Platform Free $150000/month
Plaid Custom Custom
Stoplight Free $362/month

Detailed pricing comparisons:

Browse all API Management pricing →

10 Kong Hidden Costs Beyond the List Price

Beyond the listed price, Kong has at least 10 documented hidden costs that can significantly increase total cost of ownership.

Watch for 10 hidden costs
  • Professional Services $30,000-$150,000
    high 1 source
    industry "Infrastructure Costs (Self-Hosted): For self-hosted Kong Enterprise, compute, storage, networking, and database infrastructure costs can range from $10,000 to $100,000+ annually, with high-availability and multi-region configurations significantly..."
  • Custom Plugin Development $10,000-$50,000+ per plugin
    medium 1 source
    industry "Custom Plugin Development: Organizations requiring custom plugins or integrations beyond Kong's standard library may incur development costs ranging from $10,000 to $50,000+ per plugin, based on complexity"
  • Infrastructure Costs (Self-Hosted) $10,000-$100,000+ annually
    high 1 source
    industry "Infrastructure Costs (Self-Hosted): For self-hosted Kong Enterprise, compute, storage, networking, and database infrastructure costs can range from $10,000 to $100,000+ annually, with high-availability and multi-region configurations significantly..."
  • Training and Enablement $2,000-$10,000 per session or comprehensive program
    medium 1 source
    industry "Training and Enablement: Kong offers training programs for administrators and developers, which can cost between $2,000 and $10,000 per session or comprehensive program"
  • Support Tier Upgrades 15-30% to base licensing costs; 20-40% to base licensing costs overall
    medium 1 source
    industry "Support Tier Upgrades: Upgrading from Standard to Premium/Platinum support mid-contract can add 15-30% to base licensing costs"
  • Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) for Enterprise 30-50% higher than base subscription costs in the first year; 20-40% above base costs in subsequent years
    high 1 source
    industry "Total Cost of Ownership (TCO): The total cost of ownership, including infrastructure, professional services, and support, is typically 30-50% higher than base subscription costs in the first year, stabilizing at 20-40% above base costs in subseque..."
  • Operational Costs for Open-Source Kong
    high 1 source
    industry "The operational cost lies in the engineering hours spent building the management layer that Kong OSS does not include"
  • Developer Portal Licensing and Overage $200 per month each (additional portals); $20 per month each (first 10 additional APIs); $10 per month each (additional APIs beyond 10)
    medium 1 source
    industry "The first 10 published APIs within a portal cost $20 per month each, with additional APIs beyond 10 costing $10 per month each, up to the 20-API maximum"
  • Advanced Features
    medium 1 source
    industry "Advanced Features: Features like SSO, audit logs, and advanced governance are often locked behind the Enterprise tier"
  • Aggressive Feature Gating and Monetization Pressure 5-15% of license costs
    medium 1 source
    Hacker News "why they end up becoming unfriendly to developers or development teams when they all start with great intentions is because their entire business identity is tied to being 'the API tool."
Tip

Ask your Kong sales rep about these costs upfront. Getting them in writing before signing can save you from surprise charges later.

Full hidden costs breakdown →

Intelligence sourced from 4 independent sources
industry Hacker News Tech community Vendr Verified buyer transactions Trustpilot Consumer reviews
Key claims include inline source attribution. Data verified against multiple independent sources. 12 source citations total.

Kong Contract Terms

Kong contracts do not auto-renew. Changes require advance notice. These terms are sourced from verified buyer experiences.

Contract Terms
Minimum Commitment $30,000–$50,000 annually for small deployments

How to Negotiate Kong Pricing

Kong contracts are negotiable. These 1 tactics are sourced from real buyer experiences and procurement specialists.

Negotiation Playbook 1 tactics
Leverage Open Source Alternative medium success

Kong offers a fully functional Open Source tier at no cost. Use this as negotiation leverage when discussing the Plus or Enterprise plans — vendors are more likely to offer discounts when buyers demonstrate willingness to self-host the open source version.

Current tier data + general SaaS negotiation best practices
High success Medium Low / difficult

Full negotiation guide →

Kong Price History

Pricing changes CostBench has tracked for Kong, verified across 2 snapshots going back to 2026Q2.

  1. Kong tier renamed

    "Konnect Plus" renamed to "Plus"

  2. Kong tier renamed

    "Kong Enterprise" renamed to "Enterprise"

View Kong's full price history →

Kong Pricing FAQ

01 How much does Kong cost?

Pricing varies by plan. Check the official pricing page for current rates.

02 Does Kong have a free tier?

Check the pricing section above for free tier availability.

03 What are the main features of Kong?

Key features include the items listed in the pricing tiers above.

04 Is Kong worth the price?

Value depends on your specific needs and use case. Compare features across plans.

05 Is there a free version of Kong?

Yes. Kong's Open Source tier is completely free. It is available on GitHub and includes the core API gateway functionality. Teams that need commercial support, advanced features, or managed hosting will need to upgrade to the Plus ($25/month) or Enterprise (custom pricing) plans.

Is this pricing incorrect? — we'll verify and update it.