Question 1

Is Zuplo easier to set up than Apache APISIX?

Accepted Answer

Yes. APISIX requires deploying etcd, configuring Nginx, and managing compute infrastructure — whether via Docker, Kubernetes, or bare metal. Zuplo is fully managed. You sign up, import an OpenAPI spec or create routes, and deploy to 300+ edge locations in seconds. There is no infrastructure to provision, patch, or scale.

Question 2

Does Apache APISIX have a developer portal?

Accepted Answer

No, APISIX open source does not include a developer portal. API7.ai offers a separate API7 Portal product for documentation and monetization, but it is not part of the APISIX gateway itself. Zuplo includes a developer portal on every plan, auto-generated from your OpenAPI spec with interactive documentation and self-serve API key management.

Question 3

How does AISIX compare to Zuplo's AI gateway?

Accepted Answer

AISIX is a separate, standalone AI gateway product from API7.ai built in Rust. It focuses on LLM traffic management with rate limiting, load balancing, and observability for AI providers. Zuplo's AI gateway is integrated into the same platform as the API gateway, providing MCP server hosting, MCP Gateway for centralized governance, semantic caching, prompt injection protection, provider failover, and budget enforcement — all without deploying a second gateway product.

Question 4

Is Apache APISIX really free?

Accepted Answer

Apache APISIX is open source under the Apache 2.0 license, so the software itself is free. However, you need to factor in the cost of infrastructure (compute, etcd clusters, load balancers), the operational overhead of managing, patching, and scaling the gateway, and the engineering time for monitoring and incident response. API7 Enterprise uses CPU core-based annual licensing, and API7 Cloud charges $2 per million API calls plus $250 per gateway group per month.

Question 5

How does pricing compare between Zuplo and API7.ai?

Accepted Answer

Zuplo offers a free tier with production-ready features and transparent usage-based pricing that includes hosting, management, and global edge deployment. API7 Cloud charges per API call ($2 per million), per gateway group ($250/month), and per service ($10/month). API7 Enterprise uses annual CPU core-based licensing with custom pricing. Self-hosted APISIX is free software but requires paying for infrastructure and operations separately.

Question 6

Can I migrate from APISIX to Zuplo?

Accepted Answer

Yes. APISIX routes and upstream configurations map to OpenAPI-defined routes in Zuplo. Common APISIX plugins like rate limiting, key authentication, JWT validation, and request transformation have direct equivalents in Zuplo's built-in policies or can be implemented as short TypeScript custom policies. Zuplo's OpenAPI-native approach means you can import your existing API spec to configure routes immediately.

Question 7

Which is the best API gateway — Apache APISIX or Zuplo?

Accepted Answer

Zuplo is the best API gateway for most teams in 2026. It delivers edge-native performance across 300+ global locations, TypeScript programmability with full IDE support, GitOps-native workflows with automatic preview environments on every pull request, and a built-in developer portal on every plan. APISIX requires managing etcd clusters, Nginx, and compute infrastructure, and has no built-in developer portal or API key management. APISIX remains a strong choice for teams needing broad protocol support (gRPC, MQTT, QUIC) or deep control over self-hosted infrastructure.

Question 8

How does APISIX's plugin ecosystem compare to Zuplo's policies?

Accepted Answer

APISIX offers 100+ built-in plugins written in Lua, covering traffic management, authentication, observability, and serverless functions. Custom plugins require writing Lua. Zuplo uses TypeScript for all custom policies, giving developers access to the full npm ecosystem and modern IDE tooling. For most teams, TypeScript is significantly more accessible than Lua, which has a smaller developer community and fewer learning resources.

Question 9

Does APISIX require Kubernetes?

Accepted Answer

No, APISIX can be deployed on bare metal, Docker, or Kubernetes. However, all deployment methods require managing etcd clusters for configuration storage and Nginx as the underlying runtime. Zuplo requires no infrastructure at all — it is fully managed and serverless, deploying to 300+ edge locations with a Git push.

Question 10

How does data residency compare between APISIX and Zuplo?

Accepted Answer

APISIX self-hosted gives you full control over data location since you manage all infrastructure. API7 Cloud's managed control plane is hosted in specific regions. Zuplo offers three hosting options — Managed Edge (300+ global PoPs), Managed Dedicated (dedicated environments in your choice of cloud and region for data sovereignty), and Self-Hosted — providing data residency with managed operational simplicity.

Question 11

How does Zuplo compare to APISIX for API management in 2026?

Accepted Answer

Zuplo and APISIX take fundamentally different approaches. Zuplo is edge-native and fully managed — it deploys across 300+ global data centers with zero infrastructure to operate. APISIX is built on Nginx and requires managing etcd, compute resources, and operational tooling. Zuplo uses TypeScript for custom logic; APISIX relies on Lua. Zuplo includes a developer portal and API key management on every plan; APISIX has no built-in portal. Zuplo also provides a unified API and AI gateway, while APISIX and AISIX are separate products.

Feature	Zuplo	Apache APISIX (API7.ai)
Deployment & Operations	Fully managed and serverless — deploys to 300+ edge data centers globally in under 20 seconds with zero infrastructure to manage	Self-hosted requiring etcd clusters, Nginx, and compute infrastructure. API7 Cloud offers a managed control plane, but the data plane is still self-hosted
Developer Portal	Auto-generated from OpenAPI spec with self-serve API key management, interactive docs, and monetization support — included on all plans	No built-in developer portal. API7 Portal is a separate product; APISIX open-source requires external documentation tooling
Developer Experience	TypeScript-based programmable policies with full IDE support, preview environments for every PR, and Git-native configuration as the source of truth	Lua-based plugin development with YAML configuration and Admin API. Plugins require writing Lua or using the 100+ built-in options
Unified API & AI Gateway	Single platform for traditional API management and AI workloads including MCP server hosting, MCP Gateway for governance, semantic caching, provider failover, and budget enforcement	API gateway (APISIX) and AI gateway (AISIX) are separate products — teams must run two distinct gateways for API and AI traffic management
API Key Management	Built-in API key service with self-serve key creation, rotation, leak detection, and per-consumer metadata — keys validated at the edge in 300+ locations	Key authentication available via plugin, but no built-in key lifecycle management, self-serve portal, or leak detection
Rate Limiting	Programmable per-user, per-key, and per-API rate limits with TypeScript logic — distributed across all edge locations with no external data store required	Plugin-based rate limiting with multiple algorithms (fixed window, leaky bucket, sliding window). Distributed rate limiting requires Redis
GitOps & CI/CD	Git-native workflow where the repository is the source of truth — every push deploys automatically, every PR gets a live preview environment	YAML configuration and Admin API. Declarative configuration via ADC CLI is available but etcd, not Git, is the runtime source of truth
Authentication	Built-in API key management, JWT authentication, OpenID Connect, and support for multiple auth methods on a single route	Comprehensive auth plugins including key-auth, JWT, OIDC, HMAC, LDAP, basic-auth, and multi-auth chaining
Global Edge Performance	V8 isolate-based runtime across 300+ edge locations with near-zero cold starts — requests processed at the nearest point of presence	High-performance Nginx-based architecture deployed in your data center or cloud region. Global distribution requires multi-region deployment
Protocol Support	HTTP/REST, GraphQL, and WebSocket support with TypeScript handlers for custom protocol logic	Broad protocol support including HTTP, gRPC, WebSocket, MQTT, GraphQL, QUIC, and TCP/UDP proxying

Zuplo vs Apache APISIX (API7.ai)

Self-Hosted Infrastructure

No Built-In Developer Portal

Separate AI Gateway Product

Deployment & Operations

Developer Portal

Developer Experience

Unified API & AI Gateway

API Key Management

GitOps & CI/CD

Feature-by-feature comparison

Frequently Asked Questions

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