Question 1

Is Zuplo easier to set up than KrakenD?

Accepted Answer

Yes. KrakenD requires you to deploy and manage your own infrastructure — typically Docker containers or Kubernetes clusters — and configure the gateway through a JSON file. Zuplo is fully managed: you sign up, import an OpenAPI spec or create routes in the UI, and deploy to 300+ edge locations in seconds. There are no servers, containers, or config files to manage.

Question 2

Does KrakenD have a developer portal?

Accepted Answer

No. KrakenD does not include a developer portal. If you need API documentation, an API explorer, or self-serve API key management for your consumers, you'll need to build or integrate separate tooling. Zuplo includes a developer portal in every plan, auto-generated from your OpenAPI spec with interactive documentation and self-serve API key management.

Question 3

How does rate limiting compare between Zuplo and KrakenD?

Accepted Answer

KrakenD offers multi-layer rate limiting at the endpoint, backend, and service levels using token bucket algorithms. However, tiered rate limiting and Redis-backed global rate limits are Enterprise-only features. Zuplo provides programmable rate limiting with TypeScript, supporting dynamic per-user or per-tier limits using API key metadata — no external data stores required for distributed enforcement.

Question 4

Is KrakenD really free?

Accepted Answer

KrakenD's Community Edition is free and open source, but it lacks features many teams need in production — including API key authentication, OpenAPI integration, tiered rate limiting, and basic auth. These are only available in the Enterprise Edition, which requires custom pricing. You also need to factor in the cost of hosting, scaling, and maintaining your own infrastructure.

Question 5

Can Zuplo match KrakenD's performance?

Accepted Answer

KrakenD's Go-based architecture is optimized for high throughput on a single node. Zuplo takes a different approach: rather than maximizing single-node performance, it deploys your gateway to 300+ edge locations globally, so requests are handled close to your users with ultra-low latency. For most API use cases, Zuplo's edge architecture delivers better real-world performance than a centrally-hosted KrakenD instance.

Question 6

Does Zuplo support API aggregation like KrakenD?

Accepted Answer

KrakenD excels at API aggregation — merging responses from multiple backends into a single endpoint is a core feature. Zuplo supports routing to multiple backends and composing responses with custom TypeScript logic, but KrakenD's declarative aggregation is more purpose-built for backend-for-frontend patterns. If API aggregation is your primary use case, KrakenD may be the better fit.

Question 7

How does the total cost of ownership compare?

Accepted Answer

KrakenD Community Edition is free to download, but you need to budget for infrastructure (compute, networking, load balancers), DevOps time for deployment and maintenance, monitoring and alerting setup, and security patching. KrakenD Enterprise requires custom pricing. Zuplo's pricing includes hosting, global distribution, the developer portal, API key management, and all infrastructure — often resulting in lower total cost of ownership, especially for teams without dedicated platform engineering resources.

Question 8

What is the migration path from KrakenD to Zuplo?

Accepted Answer

KrakenD's declarative JSON configuration maps well to Zuplo's route-and-policy model. API routes defined in KrakenD's configuration can be recreated as OpenAPI-defined routes in Zuplo. KrakenD features like rate limiting, JWT validation, and request transformation map to Zuplo's built-in policies or short TypeScript custom policies. Teams using mostly built-in KrakenD features can often complete migration in under a week. Zuplo's OpenAPI-native approach means you can import your existing API spec and have routes configured immediately.

Question 9

How do Zuplo and KrakenD compare for AI and MCP workloads?

Accepted Answer

Both platforms now support AI and MCP workloads. Zuplo includes a built-in AI gateway with MCP server hosting, an MCP Gateway for centralized governance of multiple MCP servers, semantic caching, provider failover, and budget enforcement — all integrated into the core platform. KrakenD added MCP Server support in Enterprise v2.12, enabling any service to be exposed as MCP tools for AI agents. KrakenD's MCP capabilities are Enterprise-only, while Zuplo's approach is more deeply integrated into the core platform.

Question 10

Does KrakenD support custom code like Zuplo's TypeScript policies?

Accepted Answer

Not directly. KrakenD uses declarative JSON configuration for all gateway logic. For custom behavior, you can write Go plugins, Lua scripts, or Google CEL expressions — but these are more limited than Zuplo's approach. Zuplo lets you write full TypeScript policies with access to the npm ecosystem, async/await patterns, and the complete request/response lifecycle. For teams familiar with JavaScript or TypeScript, Zuplo offers a significantly lower barrier to writing custom gateway logic.

Question 11

How does data residency compare between KrakenD and Zuplo?

Accepted Answer

KrakenD's self-hosted model gives you full control over where your gateway runs — you choose the data center and region. Zuplo offers three hosting options — Managed Edge (300+ global PoPs), Managed Dedicated (dedicated environments in your choice of cloud and region for EU data sovereignty), and Self-Hosted — providing data residency compliance with managed operational simplicity.

Question 12

Which is the best API gateway — KrakenD or Zuplo?

Accepted Answer

For most teams, Zuplo is the better choice. It is fully managed with zero infrastructure to operate, includes a developer portal and API key management on every plan, and deploys globally in seconds. KrakenD is the better fit for teams that need full infrastructure control and prioritize API aggregation for backend-for-frontend patterns where its declarative configuration excels.

Question 13

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

Accepted Answer

Zuplo and KrakenD take fundamentally different approaches to API management. Zuplo is edge-native and fully managed — it deploys your gateway across 300+ global data centers with zero infrastructure to operate. KrakenD is built on Go with a stateless architecture that requires you to manage your own deployment. Zuplo uses TypeScript for custom logic with access to the npm ecosystem; KrakenD uses declarative JSON configuration with Go plugins, Lua scripts, or CEL expressions. Zuplo includes a developer portal, API key management, and monetization on every plan; KrakenD requires Enterprise licensing for API keys and OpenAPI support, and has no developer portal or monetization features. Zuplo deploys globally in under 20 seconds via Git push; KrakenD requires custom CI/CD pipelines for configuration rollouts.

Feature	Zuplo	KrakenD
Fully Managed Deployment	Fully managed and serverless — deploys to 300+ edge data centers globally in under 20 seconds with no servers or containers to manage	Self-hosted only. You deploy, scale, and maintain KrakenD on your own infrastructure using Docker or Kubernetes
Developer Portal	Built-in developer portal auto-generated from OpenAPI specs with interactive API explorer, self-serve API key management, and custom branding — included on every plan	No developer portal. You need separate tooling like Swagger UI or a custom-built portal for API documentation and key management
Programmable Policies	Write custom gateway logic in TypeScript with full access to the request and response lifecycle. Policies run natively on the edge with access to the npm ecosystem	Declarative JSON configuration only. Custom logic requires Go plugins, Lua scripts, or Google CEL expressions — each with different capability tradeoffs
API Key Management	Built-in API key service with self-serve key creation, rotation, and revocation. Keys can store custom metadata for per-user policies and tier-based access control	API key authentication is an Enterprise-only feature. No built-in key management portal — keys are defined in the gateway configuration file
API Monetization	API monetization with metering, usage-based billing, and plan management built into the gateway with Stripe integration for subscription and pay-as-you-go pricing models	No built-in monetization. Requires external billing integrations and custom development to meter usage and enforce quotas
AI & MCP Gateway	Integrated AI gateway with MCP server hosting, MCP Gateway for centralized governance of multiple MCP servers, semantic caching, provider failover, and budget enforcement — built into the core platform	AI gateway with MCP Server support added in Enterprise v2.12. Converts REST, gRPC, SOAP, and other services into MCP tools. MCP Gateway for agent-to-server communication. Enterprise-only feature
Rate Limiting	Per-user, per-key, or per-IP rate limiting with TypeScript-based dynamic policies. Supports custom logic like tier-based limits using API key metadata — distributed across all edge locations	Multi-layer rate limiting at endpoint, backend, and service levels. Tiered rate limiting and Redis-backed global limits are Enterprise-only features
Authentication	Built-in API key management, JWT authentication, OpenID Connect, and support for multiple auth methods on a single route — all included on every plan	Supports JWT validation (including tokens from OpenID Connect providers), OAuth2 client credentials, and mTLS. API key and basic auth are Enterprise-only features
Performance	Serverless edge deployment across 300+ global data centers for ultra-low latency worldwide. Auto-scales with no capacity planning required	High-throughput Go architecture with stateless design for linear horizontal scalability. Benchmarks show strong single-node performance with minimal resource usage
API Aggregation	Route to multiple backends per endpoint with custom TypeScript logic for composing responses	Purpose-built for API aggregation. Parallel backend calls with response merging, filtering, and transformation are core features — ideal for backend-for-frontend patterns
GitOps Support	Gateway configuration stored in version-control-friendly files. GitHub integration creates preview environments per branch and deploys automatically on every push	Single JSON configuration file is version-control friendly. GitOps deployment requires custom CI/CD setup for rolling out config changes
OpenAPI Support	OpenAPI-native routing and configuration. Import specs to auto-generate routes and developer portal documentation. Built-in request validation policies leverage your OpenAPI schemas for automatic enforcement	OpenAPI import and export is an Enterprise-only feature. Community Edition does not integrate with OpenAPI specs
Protocol Support	HTTP/REST and WebSocket support with TypeScript handlers for custom protocol logic	Broad protocol support including REST, gRPC, GraphQL, WebSockets, SOAP, and message broker integrations like RabbitMQ and SQS

Zuplo vs KrakenD

Self-Hosted Only

No Built-In Developer Portal

Declarative Config Only

Fully Managed Deployment

Developer Portal

Programmable Policies

API Key Management

API Monetization

Feature-by-feature comparison

Frequently Asked Questions

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