Kong Konnect vs Zuplo
SEPT 2026 auditA comparison of Kong Konnect and Zuplo built from values read directly from each provider's own documentation, with the source recorded against every figure.
The short answer
Choose 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.
Editorial · Palash Bagchi · approved
Choose 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.
Editorial · Palash Bagchi · approved
Consider something else if…
- 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.
- 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.
5 sourced criteria separate them — see where, with sources, below.
Pick the criteria you care about. The chart counts how many of them lean toward each provider — the same read as scanning the bars below, just totalled for the ones you chose.
Kong Konnect 0
Zuplo 0
At a glance.
| Criterion | Kong Konnect | Zuplo |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | ||
| 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. |
| Infrastructure | ||
| 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
- Zuplo
- Free tier
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Kong Pricing and Plans ↗
“$0 for 30 days no credit card required”
Read 2026-09-15 · official pricing
- Zuplo Pricing ↗
“Free Free / mo No credit card Start free”
Read 2026-09-15 · official 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.
- 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.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Kong Pricing and Plans ↗
“Enterprise functionality — for free — for 30 days - No Gateway limits - Analytics retained for 30 days”
Read 2026-09-15 · official pricing
- Zuplo Pricing ↗
“100K requests / month 1 day of analytics, live logs & traces Up to 2 developer seats GitOps with GitHub”
Read 2026-09-15 · official 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.
- 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.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Kong Pricing and Plans ↗
“$25/month per control plane”
Read 2026-09-15 · official pricing
- Zuplo Pricing ↗
“Builder $25 / mo Solo & hobby projects”
Read 2026-09-15 · official 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.
- 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.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Kong Pricing and Plans ↗
“$500/month per control plane Volume discounts available DCGW bandwidth cost”
Read 2026-09-15 · official pricing
- Zuplo Pricing ↗
“Monthly requests 100K 100K Included ($100 per 100K)”
Read 2026-09-15 · official pricing
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.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Kong Pricing and Plans ↗
“SLA 99.99% 99.99% 99.99%”
Read 2026-09-15 · official pricing
- Zuplo Pricing ↗
“SLA guarantee enterprise 99.5% baseline, up to 99.999% on Enterprise”
Read 2026-09-15 · official pricing
When these numbers change, hear about it. Sources are re-checked monthly; a repricing goes out as a short note.
Documented by only one.
These criteria are published by one provider and not the other. An absence here means we have not found a source, not that the feature is missing.
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.