AWS API Gateway logoReqKey vs AWS API Gateway · checked September 2026

An AWS API Gateway alternativefor keys you can actually enforce.

AWS’s own docs say API keys aren’t for authentication and usage-plan quotas are best-effort. ReqKey keys are for authentication, and credits are enforced on every call.

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The short answer

API Gateway usage plans give REST APIs rough per-key throttling and daily, weekly, or monthly quotas — with a hard ceiling of 10,000 keys per Region. ReqKey is built to enforce: real key auth, credit balances, per-plan limits, and per-customer logs, on any cloud.

AWS API Gateway is a managed API gateway. ReqKey is API keys, credits, rate limits, and request analytics for the API you sell.

At 10M requests a month

$25

ReqKey

$35+

AWS API Gateway

REST API calls at $3.50 per 1M in us-east-1, before caching and CloudWatch logs.

ReqKey and AWS API Gateway, line by line.

A filled mark shows who is stronger on that line; a dash means they’re comparable. Their wins are marked too.

  • How it runsReqKeySDK middleware inside your API — no proxy, no DNS changeAWS API GatewayManaged proxy in front of Lambda or HTTP backends
  • API keys for your customersReqKeyYes — prefixed and hashed, one customer can hold many keysAWS API GatewayYes, but AWS says not to use them for authentication; 10,000 per Region
  • Credits and quotasReqKeyA balance per customer, any cost per call, refills every hour, day, week, or month, optional overageAWS API GatewayRequest quotas per day, week, or month — “best-effort”
  • Rate limitsReqKeyPer customer, set on the plan, windows from 1 second to 24 hours, 429 with Retry-AfterAWS API GatewayPer-key throttling, best-effort
  • Request analyticsReqKeyEvery request — endpoint, status, latency, customer — 30 days on Pro, plus an Analytics APIAWS API GatewayCloudWatch metrics and access logs you build on
  • Free tierReqKey5M requests a month, 1,000 keysAWS API Gateway1M REST calls a month for 12 months, new accounts
  • First paid tierReqKey$25/mo for 10M requests and 100,000 keys, volume tiers to 1BAWS API Gateway$3.50 per 1M REST calls; usage plans are REST-only
  • Takes paymentReqKeyNo — ReqKey meters and enforces; you take payment with your own providerAWS API GatewayNo

AWS API Gateway details from their own pricing pages and docs, checked September 2026. Sources below.

Why teams pick ReqKey over AWS API Gateway.

1

Keys meant for auth

ReqKey keys authenticate your customers. AWS: “Don’t use API keys for authentication or authorization.”

2

Hard enforcement

Credits are checked and charged on every request. AWS: usage plan quotas are “not hard limits”.

3

Room to grow

100,000 keys on ReqKey Pro, against a fixed 10,000 keys per Region on API Gateway.

4

Credits, not just counts

Price routes differently, refill on a schedule, and allow overage — AWS only counts requests.

5

Any cloud

The middleware runs on Vercel, Fly, Hetzner, GCP, or AWS — in seven languages.

When AWS API Gateway is the better pick.

We’d rather you pick the right tool than switch twice.

  • You’re all-in on AWS and need a gateway anyway for Lambda.
  • Rough per-customer throttling is enough and you use IAM or Cognito for auth.

Moving from AWS API Gateway in three steps.

  1. 1

    Keep API Gateway for routing if you like

    ReqKey runs in your Lambda or container, so it works behind API Gateway, a load balancer, or nothing at all.

  2. 2

    Recreate usage plans as ReqKey plans

    Map throttle and quota settings to plan rate limits and credit allowances.

  3. 3

    Issue ReqKey keys and add the middleware

    Give customers new keys, add the SDK middleware, then drop the x-api-key requirement on the gateway.

Framework guides How ReqKey works

ReqKey vs AWS API Gateway: common questions.

Something else? Ask the team or read the docs.

  • Yes — it’s a library. Use the adapter for your framework, or verify keys with the client directly in a handler.

  • ReqKey doesn’t care what’s in front of your code. API Gateway’s usage plans, by contrast, only apply to REST APIs.

  • Immediately after it’s created. AWS notes adding a key to a usage plan might take a few minutes.

Sources

Checked on AWS API Gateway’s own pages in September 2026. Prices change — if something here is out of date, tell us and we’ll fix it.

Other comparisons.

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