Kong logoReqKey vs Kong · checked September 2026

A Kong alternativefor keys and limits, minus the gateway.

Kong gives you key-auth and rate-limiting plugins on a gateway you run and pay for per control plane. ReqKey gives you keys, credits, and limits from one middleware call.

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  • A source for every claim
  • Where Kong wins, too
  • Free for 5M requests a month

The short answer

Kong is a full gateway platform — routing, mTLS, plugins, service mesh — and now a separate metering and billing product. If what you need is to sell an API with keys, credits, and plan limits, ReqKey does that without a gateway to operate.

Kong is an API gateway. ReqKey is API keys, credits, rate limits, and request analytics for the API you sell.

At 10M requests a month

$25

ReqKey

≈ $1,825+

Kong

Kong Plus: $25 serverless gateway + 9 × $200 for requests beyond the included 1M, before analytics.

ReqKey and Kong, 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 changeKongGateway proxy in front of your services
  • API keys for your customersReqKeyYes — prefixed and hashed, one customer can hold many keysKongkey-auth plugin; keys aren’t encrypted unless you add the encrypted plugin
  • Credits and quotasReqKeyA balance per customer, any cost per call, refills every hour, day, week, or month, optional overageKongPrepaid credits in the separate Konnect Metering & Billing product
  • Rate limitsReqKeyPer customer, set on the plan, windows from 1 second to 24 hours, 429 with Retry-AfterKongrate-limiting plugin; local policy less accurate, cluster policy unavailable in hybrid
  • Request analyticsReqKeyEvery request — endpoint, status, latency, customer — 30 days on Pro, plus an Analytics APIKongKonnect Advanced Analytics, $20 per 1M after the first 1M on Plus
  • Free tierReqKey5M requests a month, 1,000 keysKong30-day trial
  • First paid tierReqKey$25/mo for 10M requests and 100,000 keys, volume tiers to 1BKongPlus from $25/mo per serverless gateway, 1M requests, then $200 per extra 1M
  • Takes paymentReqKeyNo — ReqKey meters and enforces; you take payment with your own providerKongInvoicing via Konnect Metering & Billing

Kong details from their own pricing pages and docs, checked September 2026. Sources below.

Why teams pick ReqKey over Kong.

1

Nothing to run

No gateway, no control planes, no Redis for cluster-accurate limits — one middleware call in your API.

2

Price at volume

On Kong Plus, 10M requests is about $1,800 a month in request fees alone before gateway fees. ReqKey is $25.

3

Credits in the key model

Balance, refill, and overage belong to the customer’s key. On Kong they live in a separate billing product.

4

Accurate across regions

ReqKey keeps one balance synced across regions. Kong documents its local policy as less accurate across nodes.

When Kong is the better pick.

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

  • You run many internal and external services and need routing, mTLS, and transforms.
  • You want a plugin ecosystem or service mesh from one vendor.
  • You want gateway, portal, and invoicing under one enterprise contract.

Moving from Kong in three steps.

  1. 1

    Recreate plans and customers

    Create your API and plans in ReqKey, then one consumer per customer — from the dashboard or with one API call each.

  2. 2

    Issue keys and add the middleware

    Mint ReqKey keys for your customers and add the SDK middleware to your API. Run it in ingest-only mode first to compare traffic.

  3. 3

    Move traffic off the proxy

    Point your DNS back at your own API and switch the middleware to validate. Your responses no longer pass through a third party.

Framework guides How ReqKey works

ReqKey vs Kong: common questions.

Something else? Ask the team or read the docs.

  • Kong says free mode is no longer available from Gateway 3.10. Check Kong’s current terms before planning around the open-source image.

  • Yes. If you keep Kong for routing, add the ReqKey middleware in the services behind it for keys, credits, and plan limits.

  • No. ReqKey handles keys, credits, rate limits, and request analytics — not traffic routing.

Sources

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

Other comparisons.

Switching from Kong?It takes an afternoon.

Free for your first 5 million requests every month. No card, no gateway, no rewrite.

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