Zuplo
API Gateway Comparison

Zuplo vs
AWS API Gateway

The Multi-Cloud API Gateway Alternative for AI-Era Workloads

Talk to an Architect Compare with AI
Feature
Zuplo
AWS API Gateway
Managed Dedicated Deployment
AI Gateway and MCP Support
Developer Portal
Multi-Cloud Edge Deployment
Developer Experience
Deployment Speed
AccuWeather
Read the Case Study
Blockdaemon
Read the Case Study
Lake Michigan Credit Union
Read the Case Study
Finsolutia
Read the Case Study
VNDR
Read the Case Study
Mews
Read the Case Study
Yext
Read the Case Study
Zumiez
Read the Case Study

What's wrong with AWS API Gateway

AWS API Gateway's key limitations for modern engineering teams

The forces driving enterprises off AWS API Gateway in 2026 — operational tax, plugin sprawl, retrofitted AI, and pricing that doesn't predict.

AWS-Anchored Deployment

Region-bound on AWS with no native multi-cloud support. Multi-region requires custom CloudFormation/Lambda orchestration. Limits cloud independence and DR architecture.

Limited Developer Portal

AWS launched managed API Gateway Portals in late 2025, but the portal lacks self-serve API key management, built-in monetization, and analytics depth. Teams still assemble Cognito, usage plans, and custom billing separately.

CloudFormation and Lambda Operating Model

Customization requires CloudFormation/SAM templates plus Lambda authorizers and custom logic. Operationally heavy and not naturally Git-native.

Multi-Service Assembly Tax

A complete API program on AWS requires assembling API Gateway, Cognito, Lambda, DynamoDB, CloudWatch, WAF, and now AgentCore Gateway for MCP. Each service adds its own billing line, configuration surface, and failure domain.

Why Zuplo

Built for teams replatforming off AWS API Gateway

Managed, modern API management with predictable economics across procurement cycles — no operator overhead, no plugin sprawl, no consumption-pricing surprises.

Compliance and Audit Readiness

First-class compliance controls vs. compliance inherited via AWS account enrollment.

Enterprise Identity (SSO + RBAC)

Direct SAML/SCIM with project-level RBAC vs. federation through AWS IAM Identity Center.

Managed Dedicated Deployment

Managed dedicated on any major cloud vs. AWS-anchored deployment.

A solutions architect can walk you through your current AWS API Gateway setup, surface the biggest operational tax, and map a migration path — no slide deck required.

Talk to an Architect Evaluate your migration

Enterprise ready

Production-ready for regulated and high-volume workloads

Compliance & Audit

  • SOC 2 Type II audited annually
  • Third-party penetration test reports available under NDA
  • GDPR-aligned data processing
  • Audit logs across the control plane
  • API governance with policy enforcement

Identity & Access

  • SAML SSO and SCIM provisioning
  • Role-based access control across organizations, projects, and environments
  • Service-account credentials with scoped permissions
  • API key metadata for downstream authorization

Deployment Flexibility

  • Managed edge across 300+ locations — global by default
  • Managed dedicated single-tenant on AWS, Azure, GCP, Akamai, or any major cloud
  • Self-hosted on Kubernetes with full control plane
  • Bring-your-own-cloud for data residency requirements

Support & Success

  • Up to 30-minute response SLA on Enterprise
  • 24/7/365 emergency hotline for critical incidents
  • Named technical account manager
  • Architecture and migration professional services

Built for the AI era

Built for AI agents, MCP, and token-aware traffic

AWS API Gateway itself has no native AI gateway capability. AWS added MCP proxy support in late 2025 through integration with the separate AgentCore Gateway service, but token-aware routing, semantic caching, multi-provider model governance, and prompt injection protection still require assembling multiple AWS services. Zuplo's AI Gateway and MCP Gateway are purpose-built into a single platform.

Unified AI Gateway

Multi-provider model routing, semantic caching, prompt injection protection, budget and token controls, and auto-failover — managed as one product.

MCP Gateway

Turn any API into a remote MCP server, or govern third-party MCP servers behind a single managed gateway with auth and observability.

Agentic auth and identity

Per-agent API keys, scoped credentials, and dynamic per-call policies for agent traffic.

Token economics built in

Per-token metering, per-customer model budgets, and Stripe-native monetization for AI products.

See it in action

See Zuplo running on your stack

A 30-minute working session with a Zuplo solutions engineer. Bring an OpenAPI spec or a Kong route definition and walk away with a working preview.

Talk to Sales Compare features

Side by side

Feature-by-feature comparison

Feature
Zuplo
AWS API Gateway
Compliance and Audit Readiness
SOC 2 Type II audited annually, third-party penetration test reports available under NDA, audit logs across the control plane, GDPR-aligned data processing.
Compliance posture inherited from AWS (SOC 2, FedRAMP, etc.). Audit logging via CloudTrail and CloudWatch requires AWS account configuration.
Enterprise Identity (SSO + RBAC)
SAML SSO, SCIM provisioning, and RBAC across organizations, projects, and environments.
Identity via AWS IAM. SAML and OIDC federation supported through AWS IAM Identity Center configuration.
Managed Dedicated Deployment
Single-tenant managed deployment on AWS, Azure, GCP, Akamai, or any major cloud with 30-minute SLA response on Enterprise. Self-hosted on Kubernetes also supported.
AWS-only deployment. Multi-cloud support requires customer-managed networking across providers.
AI Gateway and MCP Support
Purpose-built AI Gateway with multi-provider model routing, semantic caching, prompt injection protection, budget and token controls. Dedicated MCP Gateway product for governing agent access to MCP servers.
No native AI gateway in API Gateway itself. AWS added MCP proxy support in late 2025 through integration with the separate AgentCore Gateway service, but token-aware routing, semantic caching, and multi-provider model governance still require assembling multiple AWS services.
Developer Portal
Auto-generated from OpenAPI spec with self-serve API key management, interactive API explorer, custom branding, built-in analytics, and native monetization. Included on all plans.
Managed API Gateway Portals launched in late 2025 with API discovery, documentation, and interactive testing. Self-serve API key management, built-in monetization, and deep analytics require assembling Cognito, usage plans, and custom billing separately.
Multi-Cloud Edge Deployment
Cloud-agnostic with 300+ global edge locations on every plan. Backends on AWS, Azure, GCP, or on-premises.
Region-bound on AWS. Multi-region requires CloudFormation orchestration; multi-cloud is not natively supported.
Developer Experience
TypeScript policies with full IDE support and the npm ecosystem. Configuration as code with native GitHub integration.
CloudFormation/SAM templates plus Lambda authorizers and custom Lambda logic. Configuration spread across AWS Console, IaC tools, and Lambda code.
Deployment Speed
Deploy globally to 300+ edge locations in under 20 seconds. PR-level preview environments for every branch.
Stage-based deployments propagate per region. Cold starts on Lambda authorizers add request-time latency.
Rate Limiting
Globally distributed rate limiting per user, IP, API key, or custom function — enforced as a single zone across 300+ edge locations.
Stage-level throttling and usage plans with limited customization. Per-user rate limiting requires custom Lambda authorizers.
API Monetization
Native API monetization with metering, usage-based billing, plan management, and Stripe integration.
Usage plans for tracking quota and throttling, but no native billing. Monetization requires custom Stripe + Lambda + DynamoDB stack.
GitOps and CI/CD
GitOps-native — repo is the single source of truth. Native GitHub integration with preview environments per PR.
Configuration spread across CloudFormation/SAM, Lambda code, and AWS Console. GitOps requires custom orchestration.
Pricing Model
Predictable Enterprise pricing that includes the developer portal, managed dedicated tier, SOC 2 controls, SSO, audit logs, and AI Gateway at one tier.
Per-call pricing plus data transfer, caching, Lambda invocation, Lambda duration, CloudWatch ingestion. Total cost is hard to forecast.

Migration path

Migrating from AWS API Gateway to Zuplo

AWS backends remain unchanged. Zuplo sits in front of Lambda, ECS, EKS, EC2, or any AWS service. Most enterprise migrations run gateways in parallel during cut-over.

Migration phases

Typical production cut-over in 4–10 weeks

  1. Inventory APIs and configurations

    Catalog REST/HTTP/WebSocket APIs, stages, usage plans, API keys, and Lambda authorizers in AWS API Gateway.

    2 wksPlan locked

  2. Foundation deployment

    Stand up Zuplo Enterprise on managed dedicated deployment in AWS (or any cloud). Configure SSO/SCIM, RBAC, and CI/CD wiring.

    2 wksFoundation live

  3. Policy and route migration

    Translate Lambda authorizers and custom logic to TypeScript policies. OpenAPI specs import directly. Migrate API keys and usage-plan tiers programmatically via the Zuplo Developer API.

    4 wksSide-by-side

  4. Cut-over and decommission

    Move traffic to Zuplo with weighted routing, validate SLOs, then decommission AWS API Gateway stages. Backends continue running unchanged.

    2 wksCut-over done
Read the full migration guide

What our customers say

Trusted by engineering teams at scale

Blockdaemon

90%

Hardware footprint reduction at scale

"The move to Zuplo from our existing API Management vendor was easy, taking just over 2 months to switch mission critical systems, and we're saving over 70% on costs."

Ryan Waites

Senior Director, Blockdaemon

Case study →

"Zuplo gives us the flexibility to scale efficiently, ensures security and compliance, and reduces operational complexity so we can focus on building new capabilities."

Daryl Benzel

Staff Software Engineer, Yext

Case study →
AccuWeather

1B+

End users served via Zuplo APIs

Finsolutia

Hours

To launch MCP server on regulated APIs

"We didn't touch a line of code, it's just plug and play. The results were very surprising, in just a couple of hours we had a great result and a fully working MCP Server."

Miguel Madeira

CTO & Co-Founder, Finsolutia

Case study →

Trusted for regulated and high-volume workloads

SOC 2 Type II Third-party penetration testing GDPR-aligned 24/7/365 emergency hotline
300+ Global edge locations
Billions API requests served / month
Up to 99.999% Enterprise uptime SLA
<20s Global deploy time

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about Zuplo vs AWS API Gateway.

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