---
title: "Replace Legacy Gateways"
description:
  "Move off Apigee, Kong, or Azure API Management in weeks, not months. Zuplo is
  the developer-first API gateway teams switch to when legacy platforms slow
  them down."
canonicalUrl: "https://zuplo.com/solutions/replace-legacy-gateways"
sourceUrl: "https://zuplo.com/solutions/replace-legacy-gateways"
pageType: "use-case"
generatedAt: "2026-08-04"
---

# Legacy gateways slow teams down. Zuplo doesn't.

> Teams switching from Apigee, Kong, and Azure API Management to Zuplo cut
> deployment time from months to days — and operational costs by up to 75%.

## The problem: legacy gateways were built for a different era

Apigee, Kong, and Azure APIM weren't designed for the speed modern teams expect.
They require dedicated platform teams, months of setup, and ongoing XML and YAML
config that no one wants to maintain.

- **Months to production** — Initial setup takes 3–6 months. Every new API
  requires tickets, platform team involvement, and proprietary config no one
  outside the team understands.
- **Unpredictable costs** — Consumption pricing, infrastructure overhead, and
  dedicated ops staff add up fast. Teams routinely spend 5–10x more than
  expected at scale.
- **Developer friction** — Developers wait on platform teams for every change.
  No GitOps, no self-service, no way to iterate quickly — just tickets and slow
  rollouts.

## The switch: from 6 months to production in days

Zuplo was built to be the anti-legacy gateway — developer-owned, GitOps-native,
and running at the edge in 20 seconds. No migration project. No new ops team.

- **Deploy globally in under 20 seconds** — Push to Git. Zuplo deploys to 300+
  edge locations automatically. No Kubernetes clusters, no infrastructure to
  maintain.
- **Policies in TypeScript, not XML** — Write auth, rate limiting, and
  transforms in TypeScript your team already knows. No Lua, no XML workflows, no
  proprietary config language.
- **Developer portal included** — Auto-generated interactive docs, self-serve
  key management, and usage analytics — no separate tooling, no extra cost.
- **Enterprise-ready from day one** — SOC 2 Type II, SAML SSO, audit logs, RBAC,
  and managed dedicated deployments on AWS, Azure, GCP, and Akamai.

## Leaving Apigee? You're not alone.

Apigee has become the de-facto gateway teams want to leave. With Google Cloud
phasing out Apigee Edge and X, teams are looking for a modern replacement that
won't require another 6-month migration in 3 years.

AccuWeather migrated from Apigee to Zuplo on Akamai and dramatically reduced
costs while delivering weather data to a billion users with a modern developer
portal and programmable edge caching.

### Where the two differ

| Capability             | Zuplo                                                  | Apigee                                            |
| ---------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------- |
| Deployment Speed       | Sub-20-second global deploys with PR previews          | Multi-minute deployments                          |
| Deployment Flexibility | Edge, dedicated, or self-hosted — your choice          | GCP-anchored Hybrid architecture                  |
| Developer Portal       | Auto-generated developer portal included in every plan | Drupal-based portal requiring separate management |
| GitOps and CI/CD       | Native GitOps with preview environments                | Custom CI/CD scripting for proxy management       |
| Rate Limiting          | Globally distributed programmable rate limiting        | XML-based SpikeArrest and Quota policies          |

Related resources:

- [Zuplo vs Apigee](/api-gateways/apigee-alternative-zuplo)
- [Migration guide](/learning-center/migrating-from-apigee-to-zuplo.md)
- [Apigee TCO analysis](/learning-center/the-true-cost-of-apigee-tco-analysis.md)
- [Apigee Edge EOL: what now?](/learning-center/apigee-edge-4-53-end-of-life-what-to-do-now.md)

## Also migrating from Kong or Tyk?

Zuplo has mapped the policies, plugins, and architecture patterns for these
migrations so teams don't have to figure it out from scratch.

### Zuplo vs Kong

Skip the Kubernetes, the Lua plugins, and the consumption-pricing surprises.

Zuplo advantages:

- Zero-ops managed gateway
- TypeScript and Git as source of truth
- 300+ edge PoPs by default

[See full comparison](/api-gateways/kong-alternative-zuplo)

### Zuplo vs Tyk

The Enterprise API Gateway for Teams Replatforming Off Tyk.

Zuplo advantages:

- Zero-ops managed gateway
- 300+ edge PoPs by default
- OpenAPI-native gateway configuration

[See full comparison](/api-gateways/tyk-api-management-alternative-zuplo)

More migration resources:

- [Migrating from Azure API Management](/learning-center/migrating-from-azure-api-management-to-zuplo.md)
- [Self-hosted to managed: a complete guide](/learning-center/migrate-self-hosted-to-managed-api-gateway.md)
- [Why teams switch from Azure, AWS, and Kong](/learning-center/modern-api-gateway-alternative-azure-aws-kong.md)
- [Apigee vs Zuplo: full comparison](/learning-center/apigee-vs-zuplo.md)

## Underlying capabilities

Each capability below is a first-class part of the platform, composable with
everything else.

- **[GitOps](/features/gitops)** — Deploy gateway changes by pushing to git.
  Reviewed in PRs, tracked in version control, rolled back like code.
- **[Global High Performance](/features/global-high-performance)** — 300+ edge
  locations worldwide. No region pinning, no Hybrid setup, no Kubernetes.
- **[Programmable](/features/programmable)** — Custom policies in TypeScript,
  not XML or Lua. Use the language your team already knows.

See also: [all features](/features)

## Next steps

- Start a free account: `/signup`
- Talk to an architect about your migration: `/schedule-call`