Kong Community Edition is a dead end. Move to Zuplo.
Kong stopped publishing prebuilt OSS Docker images with version 3.10, eliminated free mode, and is funneling all investment into paid Konnect enterprise. If you're running Kong Community Edition, you're on borrowed time. Migrate to Zuplo and get a modern, fully managed API gateway.
The clock is ticking
Kong Community end-of-life timeline
Kong 3.10 released without prebuilt OSS Docker images. Free mode eliminated. OSS users must build from source.
Already happenedKong OSS frozen at 3.9.1 with no new community releases. Security patches and bug fixes limited to Enterprise.
Happening nowContinued divergence between Enterprise and abandoned OSS. Growing security and compatibility risk for community users.
The problem
Kong Community Edition is being left behind
Kong Inc. raised $175M at a $2B valuation in 2024 and shifted all investment to Kong Konnect, their enterprise SaaS platform. The open-source Community Edition has been quietly deprioritized. Starting with 3.10, there are no prebuilt Docker images, no free mode, and no roadmap for OSS users.
- No prebuilt Docker images since Kong 3.10 — you must build from source
- Free mode removed — running without a license gives expired Enterprise behavior
- Last OSS release was 3.9.1 — no new features or community releases
- Security patches and bug fixes are Enterprise-only going forward
- Complex self-hosted infrastructure (Postgres/Cassandra, Kubernetes)
- Lua plugin ecosystem with a tiny developer community
- No official support or SLA for community users
The better path
Don't fight for a dying platform — move to something modern
You chose Kong Community Edition to avoid vendor lock-in and enterprise pricing. But now you're maintaining your own Docker builds, patching security vulnerabilities yourself, and writing Lua plugins nobody else understands. Zuplo gives you everything Kong promised, actually delivered:
- Fully managed — no servers, databases, or Docker builds to maintain
- 300+ global edge locations with zero infrastructure management
- TypeScript policies instead of Lua — use the language your team knows
- GitOps-native with GitHub integration and preview environments
- Auto-generated developer portal with self-serve API key management
- Free tier available — transparent pricing, no enterprise sales calls
Deploy your way
Keep your gateway where your data lives
Many Kong Community customers chose on-premises deployment for data sovereignty and compliance. With Zuplo, you get the same fully managed experience whether you deploy to our global edge or to a dedicated instance in your own cloud.
Managed Edge
Deploy across 300+ global edge locations. Zero infrastructure to manage. Automatic scaling. Requests route to the nearest point of presence worldwide.
Available on all plansManaged Dedicated
Zuplo runs a dedicated, isolated instance on the cloud provider of your choice: AWS, Azure, GCP, Akamai, Equinix, or others. You choose the regions. Private networking (PrivateLink, Private Service Connect) supported. Still fully managed by Zuplo -- zero infrastructure for you to operate.
Popular with Kong Community customersBoth options are fully managed by Zuplo. Same features, same policies, same APIs, same developer experience. Your code works identically on either deployment model.
How it works
Migrate in days, not months
Because Zuplo uses standard tools and formats (Git, TypeScript, OpenAPI), your existing team can handle the migration without Kong Community specialists or consulting partners.
Export your Kong configuration
Use `kong config db_export` or export your declarative YAML config. If you're using DB-less mode, you already have your configuration as YAML files.
Import your OpenAPI specs into Zuplo
Import your API definitions to create routes automatically. If you don't have OpenAPI specs, create them from your Kong route and service definitions.
Replace Lua plugins with TypeScript policies
Swap Kong's Lua plugins for Zuplo's built-in policy equivalents. Rate limiting, authentication, request transforms, and CORS work out of the box — no custom code needed for common patterns.
Set up your developer portal
Zuplo auto-generates a developer portal from your OpenAPI spec with interactive docs and self-serve API key management. No separate portal deployment required.
Deploy and cut over
Push to Git, get a preview environment, validate everything works. Update DNS to route traffic through Zuplo's edge network. No Kubernetes clusters to manage.
Policy translation
Your Kong Community policies have Zuplo equivalents
No proprietary XML. No Java callouts. Every common Kong Community policy maps to a Zuplo built-in policy or standard TypeScript.
| Kong Community Policy | Zuplo Equivalent |
|---|---|
| rate-limiting (plugin) | Rate Limiting |
| key-auth (plugin) | API Key Authentication |
| jwt (plugin) | JWT Authentication |
| basic-auth (plugin) | Basic Auth |
| request-transformer (plugin) | Set Headers / Set Body |
| ip-restriction (plugin) | IP Restriction |
| cors (plugin) | Built-in CORS |
| response-ratelimiting (plugin) | Quota |
| proxy-cache (plugin) | Caching Policy |
| Custom Lua plugin | Custom Code Policy |
Zuplo vs Kong Community: feature comparison
| 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 and ISO 27001. Self-hosted Kong inherits compliance from the customer's deployment environment. |
| Enterprise Identity (SSO + RBAC) | SAML SSO, SCIM provisioning, and RBAC across organizations, projects, and environments — included on Enterprise. | 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 30-minute SLA response on Enterprise. Self-hosted on Kubernetes also supported. | Konnect Dedicated Cloud Gateways available in select regions. Self-hosted requires customer-operated Kubernetes plus Postgres or Cassandra. |
| 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 Gateway and MCP proxy plugin available since Gateway 3.12 (October 2025). Plugin-based approach with enterprise MCP gateway as a separate offering. |
| Operational Simplicity | Fully managed and auto-scaled across 300+ edge locations. Zero database, cluster, or upgrade operations. | Self-hosted Kong requires Postgres or Cassandra, data plane cluster management, and upgrade pathing. Konnect reduces but does not eliminate data-plane operations. |
| 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, interactive docs, and monetization support — included on all plans. | Available in Konnect (paid tier) with manual documentation upload. 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. |
| 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, but the database (not Git) is the source of truth. 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. |
| 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. | Konnect uses consumption-based pricing (per service, per request) plus enterprise plugin fees. Kong Enterprise contracts are negotiated and not publicly listed. |
No more self-hosting
A fully managed gateway that actually scales
Kong Community Edition requires you to manage Postgres or Cassandra databases, Kubernetes clusters, Docker builds, and plugin compatibility. Zuplo is fully managed and serverless. Deploy to 300+ edge locations instantly. No infrastructure to maintain, no databases to patch, no Docker images to build from source.
Learn about the developer portalPricing model
Charge per call. Grow with your customers.
Simple per-request pricing that scales naturally from 100 to 100M calls.
Starter
- 100K req/mo
- Unlimited API keys
- Basic analytics
Builder
- 1M req/mo
- Custom domains
- Advanced analytics
- Webhooks
Enterprise
- Unlimited requests
- SLA 99.99%
- Dedicated CSM
- SSO & RBAC
Built-in observability
Real-time analytics without Prometheus pipelines
Kong Community Edition has minimal built-in analytics. Most teams bolt on Prometheus, Grafana, and custom dashboards to get basic visibility. Zuplo includes built-in analytics with every plan: request volume, latency percentiles (P50/P95/P99), error rates, and status code breakdowns. All in real time.
Learn about analyticsTeams that made the switch
Companies trust Zuplo for their APIs
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about migrating from Kong Community to Zuplo.
Stop maintaining a dying gateway.
Start your Kong Community Edition migration today with a free Zuplo account.