Kong Free Plan 2026: What's Included & What's Not
Honest breakdown of the free tier limits and features
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. Pricing depends on your chosen tier, contract length, and negotiated discounts.
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.
Yes, Kong offers a forever free plan as of July 2026. The free tier includes 9 features with limits on usage. Paid plans start at $25/per control plane/month (Plus). Pricing verified from 2 sources by CostBench.
Kong's free plan is available indefinitely with no time limit.
What's Included in the Free Plan
- Core API gateway features
- Load balancing
- Health checks
- Rate limiting
- Authentication plugins
- Logging and monitoring
- Community support
- Self-hosted deployment
- Unlimited API calls
What's NOT Included (Paid Only)
- 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
You'll Need to Upgrade When...
- You exceed the user limit
- You need features like 30-day free trial ($0, no credit card, full Enterprise functionality) or Serverless Gateway control plane: $25/mo each (up to 5)
- You require premium support or SLA guarantees
- You need to remove branding or watermarks
- You need advanced integrations or API access
Hidden Restrictions on Free Plan
- Kong branding may appear on your content or communications
- Support is limited to community forums or email with longer response times
- Export options may be restricted or include watermarks
- API access is typically limited or not available
- Advanced reporting and analytics require paid plans
Free vs Paid: Which Do You Need?
Free Plan is Enough If...
- You're an individual or very small team
- You need only basic features
- You don't mind usage limits
- Branding on output is acceptable
- Community support is sufficient
You Need Paid If...
- Your team is growing beyond limits
- You need advanced features
- Professional branding is required
- You need priority support
- Integrations/API access is critical
Free vs Plus Plan Comparison
| Open Source $0 | Plus $25/per control plane/month | |
|---|---|---|
| Features | 9 included | 11+ included |
| Support | Community/Email | Priority Support |
| Branding | Kong branding | Your branding |
| Best For | Developers and small teams wanting a free, self-hosted API gateway with core features | Smaller companies getting started building out their API programs with usage-based, per-gateway pricing |
Frequently Asked Questions
01 Is Kong free?
Yes, Kong offers a forever free plan with 9 core features included. However, there are limits on users and features that may require upgrading.
02 What's included in Kong's free plan?
Kong's free plan includes: Core API gateway features, Load balancing, Health checks, Rate limiting, Authentication plugins, and 4 more features. Key limits include basic usage caps.
03 What's NOT included in Kong's free plan?
The free plan excludes: 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). You'll also have Kong branding and limited support options.
04 When should I upgrade from Kong's free plan?
Consider upgrading when: you hit user or storage limits, need features like 30-day free trial ($0, no credit card, full Enterprise functionality) or Serverless Gateway control plane: $25/mo each (up to 5), require premium support, or want to remove branding. The cheapest paid plan starts at $25/per control plane/month.
05 Is Kong's free plan really free forever?
Yes, Kong's free plan is available indefinitely with no time limit. However, feature and usage limits may restrict what you can do without upgrading to a paid plan.