# Kong Konnect vs Zuplo

Canonical: https://inetgeek.com/compare/kong-konnect-vs-zuplo/

Every value below is read from Kong Konnect's and Zuplo's own documentation. See https://inetgeek.com/methodology/ for how.

## At a glance

| Criterion | Kong Konnect | Zuplo |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Kind of free offer | Free trial | Free tier |
| What the free plan includes | Thirty days of the full enterprise feature set with no gateway limits and 30 days of analytics retention, then it stops. There is no standing free tier underneath it. | 100,000 requests a month, one day of analytics, live logs and traces, up to two developer seats and GitOps from GitHub. No card, and no expiry — the only standing free tier in this category rather than a trial or a credit. |
| Entry paid plan | $25 a month per serverless control plane on the Plus tier, which allows up to five of them. Nothing is metered per request at that price — the charge is for running the gateway, not for the traffic through it. | $25 a month for Builder, which includes 100,000 requests and then charges $100 per additional 100,000. Enterprise starts at $1,000 a month on an annual contract. |
| Pricing model | Per control plane per month, not per request. A serverless control plane is $25 a month and a dedicated cloud gateway is $500 a month plus $0.15 per GB of bandwidth, with volume discounts above that. The bill therefore tracks how many gateways you operate rather than how much traffic they carry — the opposite of every other member of this category. | Per request, in blocks: Builder includes 100,000 a month and bills $100 per 100,000 beyond it, which works out far above the per-million rates AWS and Apigee quote and is aimed at low volume rather than scale. The MCP gateway, AI gateway and developer portal are included on every plan rather than sold separately. |
| Uptime SLA | 99.99% on dedicated cloud gateways. The serverless gateways that the $25 entry price buys carry NO SLA at all, which the plan table states in the same row — so the cheapest way into Kong is also the one with no availability commitment. | 99.5% as the baseline, rising to as much as 99.999% on Enterprise. The lowest published floor in this category and the highest published ceiling, both on the same page. |

## Where they differ

### Kind of free offer

- Kong Konnect: Free trial ([source](https://konghq.com/pricing))
- Zuplo: Free tier ([source](https://zuplo.com/pricing))

### What the free plan includes

- Kong Konnect: Thirty days of the full enterprise feature set with no gateway limits and 30 days of analytics retention, then it stops. There is no standing free tier underneath it. ([source](https://konghq.com/pricing))
- Zuplo: 100,000 requests a month, one day of analytics, live logs and traces, up to two developer seats and GitOps from GitHub. No card, and no expiry — the only standing free tier in this category rather than a trial or a credit. ([source](https://zuplo.com/pricing))

### Entry paid plan

- Kong Konnect: $25 a month per serverless control plane on the Plus tier, which allows up to five of them. Nothing is metered per request at that price — the charge is for running the gateway, not for the traffic through it. ([source](https://konghq.com/pricing))
- Zuplo: $25 a month for Builder, which includes 100,000 requests and then charges $100 per additional 100,000. Enterprise starts at $1,000 a month on an annual contract. ([source](https://zuplo.com/pricing))

### Pricing model

- Kong Konnect: Per control plane per month, not per request. A serverless control plane is $25 a month and a dedicated cloud gateway is $500 a month plus $0.15 per GB of bandwidth, with volume discounts above that. The bill therefore tracks how many gateways you operate rather than how much traffic they carry — the opposite of every other member of this category. ([source](https://konghq.com/pricing))
- Zuplo: Per request, in blocks: Builder includes 100,000 a month and bills $100 per 100,000 beyond it, which works out far above the per-million rates AWS and Apigee quote and is aimed at low volume rather than scale. The MCP gateway, AI gateway and developer portal are included on every plan rather than sold separately. ([source](https://zuplo.com/pricing))

### Uptime SLA

- Kong Konnect: 99.99% on dedicated cloud gateways. The serverless gateways that the $25 entry price buys carry NO SLA at all, which the plan table states in the same row — so the cheapest way into Kong is also the one with no availability commitment. ([source](https://konghq.com/pricing))
- Zuplo: 99.5% as the baseline, rising to as much as 99.999% on Enterprise. The lowest published floor in this category and the highest published ceiling, both on the same page. ([source](https://zuplo.com/pricing))

## Which should you choose?

Pick Kong Konnect if Running several gateways whose traffic you cannot forecast. The bill is per control plane per month — $25 serverless, $500 dedicated — so a spike in requests costs nothing extra, which is the opposite of every per-call competitor here.

Pick Zuplo if Getting an API behind a gateway without a procurement conversation: 100,000 requests a month free forever, no card, with the developer portal, AI gateway and MCP gateway included rather than sold as tiers.

Consider something else: Kong Konnect — Availability is the reason you are buying a gateway. The $25 serverless tier carries no SLA at all; 99.99% starts at the $500-a-month dedicated gateway, plus $0.15 per GB of bandwidth on top.

Consider something else: Zuplo — Volume is the point. Builder bills $100 per additional 100,000 requests — $1,000 per million against AWS at $1.00 and Apigee at $20 — so the pricing is built for low traffic and gets expensive quickly above it.

## Documented by only one

- SAML single sign-on: Zuplo: Supported — Enterprise tier, with RBAC alongside it
- Audit logs: Zuplo: A full management audit trail, listed as an Enterprise-tier feature.

## Questions this comparison answers

**Entry paid plan: Kong Konnect or Zuplo?**

Kong Konnect: $25 a month per serverless control plane on the Plus tier, which allows up to five of them. Nothing is metered per request at that price — the charge is for running the gateway, not for the traffic through it.
Zuplo: $25 a month for Builder, which includes 100,000 requests and then charges $100 per additional 100,000. Enterprise starts at $1,000 a month on an annual contract.

**Should I choose Kong Konnect or Zuplo?**

Pick Kong Konnect if Running several gateways whose traffic you cannot forecast. The bill is per control plane per month — $25 serverless, $500 dedicated — so a spike in requests costs nothing extra, which is the opposite of every per-call competitor here.
Pick Zuplo if Getting an API behind a gateway without a procurement conversation: 100,000 requests a month free forever, no card, with the developer portal, AI gateway and MCP gateway included rather than sold as tiers.