Question 1

Is Kong Community Edition actually dead?

Accepted Answer

While Kong hasn't formally announced end-of-life for the Community Edition, the practical reality is clear. Starting with version 3.10 in March 2025, Kong stopped publishing prebuilt Docker images for OSS and removed free mode. The last OSS release was 3.9.1. All investment is going into Kong Konnect, their paid enterprise platform. The community has widely recognized this as an effective abandonment of the open-source edition.

Question 2

Can I still use Kong Community Edition 3.9.1?

Accepted Answer

Technically yes, but you'll be running increasingly outdated software with no security patches, no bug fixes, and no new features. You also won't receive any official support. As vulnerabilities are discovered and your upstream dependencies evolve, the risk of running 3.9.1 will grow.

Question 3

Why not just upgrade to Kong Enterprise or Konnect?

Accepted Answer

You can, but you'll be paying for the same complex infrastructure you were trying to avoid. Kong Konnect starts at ~$105/month per service with additional per-request and plugin fees, and Enterprise contracts require sales calls. Zuplo offers a free tier, transparent pricing, and is fully managed — no Kubernetes, databases, or Docker builds required.

Question 4

How long does migration from Kong to Zuplo take?

Accepted Answer

Most teams complete a migration in days, not months. If you have OpenAPI specs, you can import them directly. Common Kong plugins map to built-in Zuplo policies. Custom Lua plugins can be rewritten in TypeScript, which most developers find faster and easier to maintain.

Question 5

Do I need to learn a new programming language?

Accepted Answer

Kong's plugin architecture relies on Lua, a language few developers know. Zuplo uses TypeScript, one of the most popular languages in the world. If your team writes JavaScript or TypeScript, you can start extending Zuplo immediately with no learning curve.

Question 6

What about my existing Kong declarative configuration?

Accepted Answer

Your Kong declarative YAML defines routes, services, and plugins. Zuplo uses OpenAPI-based route configuration with policies. The concepts map directly — routes become Zuplo routes, plugins become policies, and upstreams become your route handlers. The structure is different but the migration is straightforward.

Question 7

How does Zuplo handle SOC 2, SSO, and audit logs for regulated customers?

Accepted Answer

Zuplo is SOC 2 Type II audited annually with reports available under NDA. Enterprise includes SAML SSO, SCIM provisioning, RBAC across organizations and projects, and audit logs across the control plane. Zuplo also supports GDPR-aligned data processing, and annual third-party penetration testing — all included at the Enterprise tier rather than as add-ons.

Question 8

Can Zuplo deploy on dedicated infrastructure inside our cloud?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Zuplo Enterprise offers managed dedicated single-tenant deployment on AWS, Azure, GCP, Akamai, or any major cloud. Self-hosted on Kubernetes is also supported when full data residency and operational ownership are required.

Question 9

How does Zuplo's AI Gateway compare to Kong's?

Accepted Answer

Zuplo's AI Gateway is built into the platform from day one with multi-provider model routing, semantic caching, prompt injection protection, budget and token controls, auto-failover, and a dedicated MCP Gateway product. Kong delivers AI capabilities as Gateway plugins — the open-source AI plugin suite arrived in 2024, and MCP support followed in late 2025 as enterprise-tier plugins within the AI Gateway. Zuplo's architectural integration is the difference for teams running AI surfaces at scale.

Question 10

How does the migration from Kong to Zuplo work?

Accepted Answer

OpenAPI specs and route definitions import directly. Most Kong built-in plugins (rate limiting, auth, transforms) map to Zuplo policies; custom Lua becomes short TypeScript custom code. Consumers and API keys migrate programmatically via the Zuplo Developer API. Teams running primarily on built-in plugins often complete migration in days; full enterprise replatforms take 4–10 weeks. Zuplo's professional services team supports architecture review, plugin mapping, and cut-over planning.

Question 11

Can I use Zuplo without managing Kubernetes?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Zuplo is fully managed — no Kubernetes, PostgreSQL, or Redis to operate. The managed edge runs across 300+ locations, and Enterprise customers can choose managed dedicated deployment on AWS, Azure, GCP, or Akamai. Self-hosting on Kubernetes is available when it's required, but it's not a default.

Question 12

How does data residency compare?

Accepted Answer

Zuplo Enterprise supports data residency through managed dedicated single-tenant deployment in your chosen cloud region (AWS, Azure, GCP, or Akamai), or via self-hosted on your own Kubernetes infrastructure. Kong self-hosted gives full control over data location at the cost of operational overhead; Konnect offers EU control plane and Dedicated Cloud Gateways in select EU regions.

Question 13

Why choose Zuplo over Kong?

Accepted Answer

Teams choose Zuplo over Kong for five reasons: (1) Zuplo is fully managed with zero infrastructure — no Postgres, Redis, or Kubernetes clusters to operate. (2) Zuplo uses TypeScript for gateway logic instead of Lua, making policies accessible to your entire team. (3) Zuplo deploys globally to 300+ edge locations in under 20 seconds through GitOps, with automatic preview environments for every pull request. (4) Zuplo includes a developer portal with self-serve API key management on every plan including free — Kong's developer portal requires a paid Konnect subscription. (5) Zuplo's AI Gateway and MCP Gateway are built into the platform, while Kong's AI and MCP features are plugin-based add-ons.

Kong Community Policy	Zuplo Equivalent	Notes
rate-limiting (plugin)	Rate Limiting	Sliding window, globally distributed across 300+ PoPs
key-auth (plugin)	API Key Authentication	Managed key service with automatic replication
jwt (plugin)	JWT Authentication	Auth0, Cognito, Clerk, Firebase, Supabase, or any OIDC provider
basic-auth (plugin)	Basic Auth	Built-in policy, no plugin configuration required
request-transformer (plugin)	Set Headers / Set Body	Or custom TypeScript for complex transforms
ip-restriction (plugin)	IP Restriction	Plus geo-location filtering at the edge
cors (plugin)	Built-in CORS	Configuration-based, no plugin management
response-ratelimiting (plugin)	Quota	Per-user, per-key, or custom quotas
proxy-cache (plugin)	Caching Policy	Edge-cached responses across all PoPs
Custom Lua plugin	Custom Code Policy	Standard TypeScript with full npm ecosystem — no Lua required

Feature	Zuplo	Kong Community
Compliance and Audit Readiness	SOC 2 Type II audited annually, third-party penetration test reports under NDA, audit logs across the control plane, GDPR-aligned data processing.	Konnect maintains SOC 2 Type II and a PCI DSS Report on Compliance. Self-hosted Kong inherits compliance from the customer's deployment environment.
Enterprise Identity (SSO + RBAC)	SAML SSO and SCIM provisioning that work directly with Microsoft Entra ID (formerly Azure AD), plus RBAC across organizations, projects, and environments — available on Enterprise. Zuplo's OpenID JWT policy also validates Entra ID tokens at the edge.	Konnect supports SSO and RBAC. Self-hosted Kong identity depends on configured plugins (LDAP, OIDC, etc.) and customer infrastructure.
Managed Dedicated Deployment	Single-tenant managed deployment on AWS, Azure, GCP, Akamai, or any major cloud with up to a 30-minute response SLA on Enterprise. Self-hosted on Kubernetes also supported.	Konnect Dedicated Cloud Gateways available in select regions. Self-hosted runs on customer-operated infrastructure, typically Kubernetes plus PostgreSQL.
AI Gateway and MCP Support	Purpose-built AI Gateway integrated into the platform with model routing, semantic caching, prompt injection protection, budget and token controls. Dedicated MCP Gateway product.	AI plugin suite available since 2024; MCP support added in late 2025. Plugin-based approach with MCP delivered through the AI Gateway as paid enterprise plugins.
Operational Simplicity	Fully managed and auto-scaled across 300+ edge locations. Zero database, cluster, or upgrade operations.	Self-hosted Kong requires PostgreSQL (or DB-less config management), data plane cluster management, and upgrade pathing. Konnect hybrid mode still leaves data-plane operations with you; fully managed gateways cost extra and are capped by plan.
Developer Experience	TypeScript-based programmability with the full npm ecosystem. PR-level preview environments, Git as source of truth.	Lua, Go, Python, or JavaScript plugins with the Kong PDK. cURL-based Admin API and YAML declarative configuration via decK CLI.
Global Edge Performance	V8 isolate runtime across 300+ edge locations with near-zero cold starts. Requests processed at the nearest PoP automatically.	Self-hosted in customer infrastructure or Konnect Cloud regional deployment. Global distribution requires multi-region cluster management.
Developer Portal	Auto-generated from OpenAPI spec with self-serve API key management and interactive docs — included on all plans, including Free. API monetization is available in beta.	Available in Konnect (paid tiers) by publishing uploaded OpenAPI or AsyncAPI specs. Not included in open-source Gateway.
Rate Limiting	Programmable per-user, per-key, and per-API rate limits with TypeScript logic — distributed as a single zone across all edge locations.	Plugin-based rate limiting backed by Redis. Distributed rate limiting requires customer-managed Redis infrastructure.
Gateway Testing	First-party `zuplo test` runner included on every plan. Tests are plain TypeScript with fetch and Node's built-in `node:assert` — nothing extra to install — in your repo next to your routes and policies. The identical suite runs against local dev, the preview deployment of every PR, and production by changing only `--endpoint`.	Kong Gateway runs locally in DB-less mode, and Insomnia's `inso run test` runs JavaScript tests with chai in CI against a chosen environment. But the tests are authored in the Insomnia app and live in its document model — a separate product, not files beside your gateway config — and no automatic per-PR gateway is documented.
GitOps and CI/CD	Git-native — repo is the single source of truth. Every push deploys, every PR gets a live preview environment.	decK CLI for declarative config sync. In database mode, the database is the source of truth; DB-less mode supports Git-based config but trades off the Admin API. No native preview environments.
Authentication	Built-in API key and JWT management with unlimited keys and self-service key management for API consumers.	Plugins for API keys, JWTs, HMAC, LDAP, OpenID Connect — broad protocol coverage with plugin-based composition.

Kong Community Edition is a dead end. Move to Zuplo.

Kong Community end-of-life timeline

Kong Community Edition is being left behind

Don't fight for a dying platform — move to something modern

Keep your gateway where your data lives

Managed Edge

Managed Dedicated

Migrate in days, not months

Export your Kong configuration

Import your OpenAPI specs into Zuplo

Replace Lua plugins with TypeScript policies

Set up your developer portal

Deploy and cut over

Your Kong Community policies have Zuplo equivalents

Zuplo vs Kong Community: feature comparison

A fully managed gateway that actually scales

AI usage, priced to the token.

Charge per call. Grow with your customers.

Clean plans. Instant adoption.

Prepaid. Profitable. Flexible.

Better rates as usage grows.

Free to start. Built to convert.

Real-time analytics without Prometheus pipelines

Companies trust Zuplo for their APIs

Frequently Asked Questions

Stop maintaining a dying gateway.