Kong vs Tyk: which API gateway to choose

Kong or Tyk: when each fits and what the decision turns on

If your team is shortlisting self-hosted API gateways, the question is less about which gateway routes traffic well and more about which open-core line you will run for the next several years. Choose Kong when you want the Apache-2.0 Kong/kong repository as your base, you expect to write plugins in Lua, Go or JavaScript, and you need a choice of traditional, DB-less or hybrid topologies to match your operating model. Kong's open-source line stays on the 3.9 series, so a team that wants Kong Manager, Enterprise-tier plugins such as OpenID Connect, or newer release lines will be working with Kong Gateway Enterprise. Choose Tyk when you want an MPL-2.0 gateway that runs on Redis, extends its middleware chain in Python, JavaScript, Go or any gRPC-capable language, and supports REST, SOAP, GraphQL, gRPC, TCP and MCP. Tyk's Dashboard, Developer Portal and Operator sit behind a commercial license, so plan for that cost if your operators expect a web console or self-service portal.

The decision turns on three checks you can run this week. First, confirm the support window you can accept: Kong Gateway 3.9 reached end of full support on December 12, 2025 and reaches end of sunset support on December 12, 2026, according to Kong's version support policy, so an open-source 3.9 deployment needs a dated upgrade plan. Second, list the admin and portal features your operators and API consumers must have on day one, such as a graphical manager, a self-service developer portal or declarative Kubernetes management, and map each to the paid or open component that provides it. Third, define identity requirements, including which OIDC or OAuth flows you need and whether they must be native to the gateway or can sit in a separate identity provider. Ask each vendor to confirm those capabilities against your exact edition and version in writing before you commit to either line.

Which gateway fits which scenario

This table maps common Kong vs Tyk scenarios to the platform that fits better and the condition that decides it. Read each row against your own requirements, and treat any item marked as something to confirm as an open question for the vendor before you commit.

Scenario	Better fit	Condition that makes it so
Kubernetes-first team wanting declarative configuration	Kong	Kong's Kubernetes ingress controller is in the open-source README, and DB-less mode keeps configuration declarative. Tyk's Operator for declarative management requires a license, so confirm the Operator's license terms before you plan around it.
Team that needs a built-in developer portal	Tyk, with a licensed Portal	Tyk's Developer Portal is part of the full Self-Managed platform and needs a license. Kong's developer portal offering is not covered by the supplied facts, so confirm its availability and edition before you decide.
Team that wants no paid features in the gateway	Tyk	Tyk states that its gateway ships with no feature lockout, and its code is MPL-2.0 outside the ee folder. Kong's Apache-2.0 open-source line stays on 3.9, and Kong's Enterprise-tier plugins are not part of it, so check which features you need on that line.
Team needing enterprise OpenID Connect	Kong Gateway Enterprise	Kong's OpenID Connect plugin is an Enterprise-tier plugin and is not part of the open-source gateway. Confirm whether Tyk's gateway covers your OIDC flow with the features you need, since the supplied facts list JWT and bearer tokens but not OIDC.
Multi-protocol APIs including SOAP and gRPC	Tyk	Tyk's README lists REST, SOAP, GraphQL, gRPC, TCP and MCP support. The supplied Kong facts cover routing and plugins but do not confirm SOAP support, so confirm it with Kong before you choose it for SOAP workloads.
Team standardizing on Lua, Go or JavaScript plugins	Kong	Kong's README describes plugins written in Lua, Go or JavaScript. Tyk plugins run in Python, JavaScript, Go or any gRPC-capable language, so pick the platform whose plugin language matches your team's skills.
Team that wants a hosted control plane	Either, depending on edition	Kong Konnect and Tyk Cloud both offer hosted management. Tyk Cloud is described as having a free trial, while Konnect pricing and tiers are not in the supplied facts, so ask each vendor for current terms.
Team that needs the open-source line to stay supported	Confirm with each vendor	Kong's open-source line stays on 3.9, and the supplied policy notes 3.9 reached end of full support on December 12, 2025. Tyk Gateway v5.15.1 was published on October 2, 2026, so ask Tyk about its support windows for open-source releases.

How Kong and Tyk are built and deployed

Both gateways can run on infrastructure you control, but they split their components differently. Kong centers on its topology choice and database, while Tyk's open-source gateway depends on Redis and its commercial stack adds several more moving parts. The cards below cover what each layout means for operations, upgrades and what fails together.

Kong's three self-managed topologies

Kong Gateway documents traditional mode, where every node connects to a database, DB-less mode, where configuration is held in memory, and hybrid mode, which separates control plane and data plane nodes. Traditional mode puts the database on the request path's configuration dependency, so a database outage affects administration of every node. DB-less mode removes that dependency but moves configuration management into your deployment pipeline. Confirm which topology your team can operate before comparing plugin requirements, since some features depend on a database.

Kong quick start and PostgreSQL

The Kong/kong quick start runs Kong with PostgreSQL through Docker Compose, exposing port 8000 for proxy traffic, 8001 for the Admin API and 8002 for Kong Manager. That quick start is a single-host evaluation layout, not a production blueprint. Before you adopt it, plan database backups, network restrictions on the Admin API and how the database is made highly available. Treat the three exposed ports as separate exposure decisions.

Tyk Gateway's Redis dependency

The open-source Tyk Gateway runs with Redis, and it can be installed with Docker, the tyk-oss Helm chart on Kubernetes, Ansible, Red Hat, CentOS or Ubuntu packages, or from source. Redis holds state the gateway depends on, so its availability, persistence and memory sizing belong in your failure analysis. Ask how the team will monitor Redis and what happens to traffic during a Redis failover. Installation options are broad, but the operating responsibility for Redis is yours.

The full Tyk Self-Managed stack

The full Tyk Self-Managed platform runs Tyk Gateway, Tyk Dashboard, the Developer Portal, Tyk Pump, Redis and PostgreSQL, and it needs a license. Each added component is another service to patch, back up and monitor, and the Dashboard and Portal depend on PostgreSQL. Failure domains multiply across these components, so map which ones sit on the request path and which only handle management or analytics. Confirm licensing for each component before you size the environment.

Konnect and Kong Manager

Kong Konnect is Kong's cloud control plane for managing gateways across environments, while Kong Manager is the gateway's web interface. Using Konnect moves control plane hosting out of your environment, which changes where management data lives and who can reach it. Kong Manager runs alongside your self-managed gateway and needs its own access controls and network placement. Check whether your data handling rules allow a hosted control plane before assuming it is an option.

Operational effect of each layout

Kong's sharpest decision is whether the database sits in the configuration path, which affects how you recover from outages and roll out changes. Tyk's sharpest decision is how many stateful services you accept beyond the gateway, and whether Redis and PostgreSQL get the same care as the proxy. Both designs need tested restore procedures and a clear owner for each stateful component. Ask each vendor, or your implementation partner, to walk through a failure of the database or Redis in your own environment before you commit.

What the operational footprint means for your team

The number of stateful components you must run, back up and upgrade is the first operational difference between these gateways. Kong's DB-less mode holds configuration in memory and needs no database, while traditional mode requires every node to connect to a shared database. A full Tyk Self-Managed deployment runs Tyk Gateway, Tyk Dashboard, the Developer Portal, Tyk Pump, Redis and PostgreSQL, so five components sit beside the gateway itself. The open-source Tyk Gateway needs only Redis, which means the gap between a minimal Kong deployment and a full Tyk stack is largely a question of which licensed tiers you need. Confirm which of these components your use case actually requires before you size anything.

The hybrid or traditional choice changes how upgrades and outages affect your APIs. In traditional mode, database availability and schema changes touch the whole fleet at once. In hybrid mode, control plane nodes hold the database while data plane nodes handle proxy traffic, so a control plane problem need not stop traffic already flowing through the data planes. Ask Kong how data planes behave during a control plane outage, which version skew between control and data planes is supported, and how upgrades are sequenced. Kong 3.9 reaches end of sunset support on December 12, 2026, so the upgrade path belongs in this review, not after it. The sibling page on Kong topologies covers the choice itself.

Map your own topology before you compare prices. Count gateway nodes per environment, regions, and whether you run on Kubernetes. Record who will operate the PostgreSQL and Redis instances, how each is backed up and restored, and how many environments need separate databases. Then list which Tyk Dashboard, Developer Portal and Operator features you need, since these require a license. For Kong, ask for a quote that separates Enterprise licensing, Konnect or self-managed hosting, and implementation effort. A quote that ignores your database and Redis operations understates the total cost of ownership for either platform.

Capability, Kong and Tyk side by side

This table compares Kong Gateway and Tyk Gateway across routing, authentication, protocols, Kubernetes, plugins and admin tooling. Each cell names the edition the feature belongs to, so check that line before assuming a capability is available in an open-source deployment. Where the available material does not settle a point, the cell says what to confirm with the vendor.

Capability	Kong Gateway	Tyk Gateway
Routing and load balancing	Included in the open-source gateway described in the Kong/kong README, on the Apache-2.0 3.9 line	Confirm routing and load balancing options for your topology in Tyk's gateway documentation
Authentication methods	JWT, basic auth, OAuth and ACL are described in the open-source README; confirm bearer token and client certificate support in Kong's docs	JWT, bearer tokens, Basic Auth and client certificates in the MPL-2.0 Gateway
OpenID Connect	Enterprise-tier plugin, not part of the open-source gateway	Confirm OIDC support in the open-source Gateway before relying on it
Rate limiting and quotas	Confirm the rate-limiting and quota plugins and their edition in Kong's plugin documentation	Rate limiting and quotas in the MPL-2.0 Gateway
API versioning and per-operation access control	Confirm versioning and per-operation controls in Kong's documentation for your routing model	API versioning, per-version and per-operation access control, and IP allowlisting in the MPL-2.0 Gateway
Protocol support	README lists LLM and MCP gateway features; confirm REST, SOAP, GraphQL, gRPC and TCP coverage in Kong's docs	REST with OpenAPI, SOAP, GraphQL, gRPC, TCP and MCP in the Gateway README
Kubernetes integration	Kubernetes ingress controller described in the open-source README; topologies documented for hybrid deployments	Open-source tyk-oss Helm chart; the Tyk Operator for declarative management requires a license
Plugin languages	Lua, Go or JavaScript plugins in the open-source gateway	Python, JavaScript, Go or any language supporting gRPC, in the middleware chain
Admin interface and hosted options	Kong Manager web interface; Kong Konnect cloud control plane for managing gateways across environments	Tyk Dashboard and Developer Portal need a license; Tyk Cloud is hosted with a free trial

What stays open source and what is licensed

Kong's open-source repository is licensed under Apache-2.0, and its releases stay on the 3.9 line. The most recent open-source release in the supplied record is 3.9.4, released on October 12, 2026. The commercial product is Kong Gateway Enterprise, whose latest version is 3.16, released on September 15, 2026. Kong's version support policy applies to the Enterprise product, so the open-source line and the support windows are different things to plan around.

Open-source line: The Apache-2.0 repository covers routing, load balancing, health checking, JWT, basic auth, OAuth and ACL authentication, plus plugins written in Lua, Go or JavaScript.
Support windows: Kong Gateway 3.9 reached end of full support on December 12, 2025 and reaches end of sunset support on December 12, 2026. Kong's LTS releases 3.10 and 3.14 are supported until March 31, 2028 and April 7, 2029.
Enterprise-tier plugins: The OpenID Connect plugin is marked as an Enterprise tier plugin, so it is not part of the open-source gateway.
Management tooling: Kong Konnect is the cloud control plane, and Kong Manager is the web interface. Confirm with Kong which of these you would need and under what agreement.
Cost drivers: Enterprise licensing pays for vendor support, LTS commitments and Enterprise-tier plugins. Ask for a quote that lists the license tier, the plugins included and the support terms for each topology you plan to run.

Before you commit, confirm which open-source release line your security policy accepts and which plugins your authentication design requires.

How plugins and identity integration differ

Kong and Tyk both extend their gateways with custom logic and both handle API authentication, but the languages, the built-in identity features and the Kubernetes tooling sit on different editions. Read each card with the edition you plan to run, because several capabilities that matter for enterprise identity are not part of the open-source line.

Kong plugins and authentication

Kong plugins are written in Lua, Go or JavaScript, and the open-source gateway ships routing, load balancing, health checking, JWT, basic auth, OAuth and ACL authentication. This covers most API key, token and access list patterns without a paid tier. Check that your custom plugins target the language and Kong release line you plan to run, since plugin code is tied to the gateway version you deploy. Confirm with Kong which of your required plugins are free and which are Enterprise tier before you finalize the design.

Tyk plugins and middleware

Tyk plugins extend the middleware chain in Python, JavaScript, Go or any language that supports gRPC. That breadth matters if your security or data teams already write services in Python or another gRPC-capable language. Tyk's documented authentication set in the open-source gateway includes JWT, bearer tokens, Basic Auth and client certificates, with per-version and per-operation access control. Test a representative plugin under load and confirm how plugin latency and deployment packaging behave in your environment, since the plugin runtime choice affects both performance and operations.

OIDC and enterprise SSO

Kong's OpenID Connect plugin is an Enterprise tier plugin, so it is not part of the open source gateway. If your design depends on OIDC login or token introspection against a corporate identity provider, budget for Kong Gateway Enterprise from the start. For Tyk, the open-source gateway supports JWT and bearer tokens, but SSO and identity features for the Dashboard and Developer Portal sit in the licensed Self-Managed platform. Confirm with Tyk exactly which SSO options your chosen edition provides, and how they integrate with your identity provider.

Kubernetes ingress and declarative management

Kong ships a Kubernetes ingress controller in its open-source project, which lets teams manage routes through Kubernetes resources. Tyk's declarative, Kubernetes-native management comes from the Tyk Operator, which requires a license. If you run GitOps workflows, decide early whether the controller you need is free or licensed, and test how each tool handles rollbacks and drift. Confirm the current Kubernetes versions and support matrix for both projects before you commit to a cluster design.

How to move an API estate from Kong to Tyk, or back

This sequence turns an existing gateway estate into a tested Tyk configuration without a single big-bang switch. It ends with a documented cutover, a rollback path and a retired Kong configuration that no one can accidentally restart.

Inventory routes, consumers and plugins
The platform or API team exports every Kong service, route, consumer, credential type and plugin attached at global, service or route scope, then records which upstream each one reaches and which teams own it. Export from the Admin API or the declarative configuration file, and keep the export in version control. The step is done when every route has an owner, a upstream, a list of attached plugins and a traffic note, and the team agrees the inventory matches what production actually serves.
Map each Kong plugin to a Tyk equivalent
For each plugin in the inventory, the gateway engineer decides whether Tyk provides a built-in feature that covers the same behavior, such as JWT, Basic Auth, client certificates, rate limiting, quotas or IP allowlisting, or whether the behavior needs a custom plugin written in Python, JavaScript, Go or another gRPC-capable language. Plugins that depend on Kong Enterprise tiers, such as OpenID Connect, need a separate decision on licensing before any mapping is accepted. The step closes with a signed mapping sheet that lists each plugin, its Tyk target and the confirming test. Confirm every mapping against the current Tyk and Kong documentation for your versions, because behavior at edge cases often differs.
Rebuild authentication and rate limit policies
Security and API owners recreate authentication, access control and rate limit policies in Tyk, including per-version and per-operation access rules where the old setup used route-level controls. Consumer identities are carried over by mapping each Kong consumer and credential to a Tyk key or identity, and the team checks that scopes and quotas match the old behavior. The step is done when a test matrix of valid, expired, revoked and over-limit requests returns the same results on both gateways. Credentials themselves are reissued or migrated under your own key handling process, not copied in plain text.
Import API definitions and build the Tyk configuration
The team converts the OpenAPI specifications that already describe the APIs into Tyk API definitions, then adds the mapped middleware and policies from the earlier steps. Specifications and upstream contracts transfer with little change, but the gateway-specific configuration is rebuilt and reviewed. Store the resulting definitions in version control and deploy them to a non-production Tyk Gateway with Redis. The step is complete when every route in the inventory has a Tyk definition that passes contract tests against its upstream.
Run both gateways in parallel
Keep Kong serving production while Tyk receives mirrored or staged traffic, or serves a canary subset of consumers, and compare status codes, latency, authentication outcomes and rate limit counters between the two. Use this period to exercise failover and configuration reload behavior on your own infrastructure. The step is done when the comparison shows no unexplained differences for a sustained test window that your change board agrees on. Record every discrepancy and its resolution.
Cut over route by route
Move production traffic one route or one API group at a time, starting with low-risk, well-tested routes, and update DNS, load balancer or ingress targets for each group. Keep the Kong route live and reversible until the Tyk route has served production traffic without incident. Rollback is a traffic change, not a rebuild, so the runbook names the owner who can reverse each cutover. The step closes when all routes have moved and the change log records the time, owner and result of each switch.
Retire the Kong configuration and document the result
Once the rollback window closes, the team disables Kong routes, revokes Kong Admin API access, removes stale credentials and archives the final Kong export for audit. Portal content, admin workflows and dashboards are rebuilt on the Tyk side, since they do not transfer from Kong Manager or Konnect. The step is complete when no production traffic reaches Kong, the archive is stored under your retention policy and the operating runbook reflects Tyk as the system of record.

Where implementation projects usually run long

Kong Gateway projects tend to run long at the topology decision, because the choice between traditional, DB-less and hybrid mode changes what has to be built around it. Kong documents traditional mode, where every node connects to a database, DB-less mode with configuration held in memory, and hybrid mode with separate control and data planes. Traditional and hybrid mode require PostgreSQL to be designed, backed up and upgraded, while DB-less mode shifts effort into declarative configuration files and the CI/CD pipeline that renders them. Teams that move between modes late usually rework routing, certificates and plugin configuration. On the Kong side, the plugin set is the second risk: a Tyk policy built from a middleware chain has to be mapped to Kong plugins, and any identity control that relies on the OpenID Connect plugin needs a Kong Enterprise license, which changes the scope and budget conversation before build starts. Ask the partner to scope the topology decision as a written deliverable with the mode, the database or declarative source of truth, and the upgrade path for the 3.9 open-source line, which reaches end of sunset support on December 12, 2026 for Kong Gateway Enterprise.

Tyk projects tend to run long in different places. The open-source Tyk Gateway runs with Redis, but the full Self-Managed platform adds the Tyk Dashboard, the Developer Portal, Tyk Pump and PostgreSQL, and that stack needs a license. Teams that want the Dashboard for API definitions, keys and analytics often discover that the database, Pump and portal work is larger than the gateway work. Tyk plugins can be written in Python, JavaScript, Go or any language that supports gRPC, so re-implementing custom Lua or Go logic from Kong is a language decision as well as a porting task. Identity integration and certificate handling deserve their own workstream on both sides: JWT, bearer tokens, Basic Auth and client certificates must be checked against the identity provider, and mutual TLS and certificate rotation must be tested end to end. Confirm with Tyk which Dashboard, Portal and Operator features your target edition includes before estimating the portal and documentation effort, since developer onboarding content is often the last item to finish.

The work that most often overruns on either platform is policy parity testing. Ask the partner to build a test matrix that covers every route, consumer, rate limit, quota, access rule and authentication path in the current gateway, run it against both configurations, and record each difference as accepted or fixed. Require a written list of which plugins or middleware steps have no direct equivalent, along with the proposed workaround and who approves it. Ask for a cutover plan with rollback, a documented owner for certificate rotation, and an estimate of the portal content that must be migrated. Vendor quotes should state which Kong or Tyk components are licensed and which are open source, because the cost of a licensed component can change the architecture. Any timeline or fee should follow from that written scope, and the scope should name the Tyk and Kong versions tested, including Tyk Gateway v5.15.1 and the Kong release line in use.

Questions buyers ask before choosing Kong or Tyk

Is the open-source Kong gateway enough for production?

It can be, if your requirements stay within what the Apache-2.0 Kong/kong line provides. That line covers routing, load balancing, health checking, JWT, basic auth, OAuth and ACL authentication, plus plugins written in Lua, Go or JavaScript. Some features are Enterprise tier. Kong's plugin documentation marks the OpenID Connect plugin that way, so it is not part of the open-source gateway. Before you commit, check three things: which authentication flows you need, whether you need Kong Manager or the Konnect control plane for day-to-day operations, and whether your team can own patching and upgrades on the 3.9 line within its support window. Ask Kong to confirm in writing which features your use case needs and which edition includes them.

What do Kong 3.9 support dates mean for our upgrade plan?

They set a deadline you must plan around. Kong Gateway 3.9 reached end of full support on December 12, 2025 and reaches end of sunset support on December 12, 2026, according to Kong's version support policy, which applies to Kong Gateway Enterprise. The supported lines include the latest release, Kong Gateway (Enterprise) 3.16, released September 15, 2026, and the LTS releases 3.10 and 3.14, supported until March 31, 2028 and April 7, 2029. The main planning drivers are the number of gateways you run, any custom plugins written against the 3.9 API, your chosen topology, and the change windows your regulated environment allows. Confirm with Kong what support applies to the open-source 3.9.4 release, released October 12, 2026, because the policy addresses Enterprise.

Is the Tyk Dashboard required to run Tyk in production?

No. The open-source Tyk Gateway runs without the Dashboard, but you take on the management layer yourself. Tyk Gateway code is MPL-2.0 licensed except the ee folder, and the Tyk README says the gateway ships with no feature lockout. The full Tyk Self-Managed platform, which includes Tyk Dashboard, the Developer Portal, Tyk Pump, Redis and PostgreSQL, needs a license. So does the Tyk Operator for Kubernetes-native declarative management. Without the Dashboard, your team defines and changes APIs through the gateway's configuration and any tooling you build, and you handle onboarding, analytics and developer publishing yourselves. Decide based on how many API owners need self-service and whether declarative Kubernetes workflows matter to you. Confirm the scope of each license in the Tyk LICENSE file and with Tyk.

How much work does migrating from Kong to Tyk involve?

The effort depends more on your plugins and policies than on the gateway itself. Start with an inventory of services, routes, consumers, authentication settings, rate limits and environments, then map each one to Tyk's model and test every path. The drivers that raise effort most are custom Lua, Go or JavaScript plugins that must be rebuilt as Tyk middleware in Python, JavaScript, Go or a gRPC-capable language, identity flows that differ between the two platforms, and state such as API keys and rate limit counters that must move without breaking clients. Topology matters too, since Kong's traditional mode relies on a database and Tyk's open-source gateway runs with Redis. No supplied fact gives a duration, so ask for a written estimate based on your own inventory and a staged cutover plan.

Can DeployOpen run Kong or Tyk in our own cloud account?

Yes. DeployOpen plans, implements, customizes, integrates, hardens, backs up, upgrades, documents and supports self-hosted open-source platforms inside the client's own infrastructure, including cloud accounts, data centers and air-gapped networks. Most engagements are fixed-scope, with scope, deliverables and timelines agreed in writing before work starts. Ongoing support, upgrades and continuous testing are available as retainers. DeployOpen does not publish a price list, so a quote follows from the written scope. Vendor licenses for Enterprise or Self-Managed features are bought from the vendor and should appear as separate lines in any quote. Ask for the target topology, the account and network model, and a list of which edition each component requires before you sign.

What must our team supply before an implementation partner can start?

Three inputs decide how quickly any partner can work, and each needs an owner on your side:

Platform skills: named people who own the gateway, its database or Redis, and the Kubernetes or virtual machine platform it runs on.
Identity details: your identity provider, the token issuers and claims the gateway must accept, and how your existing groups map to API consumers.
Network design: ingress and egress paths, DNS, certificate issuance, and how control and data planes reach each other in a hybrid Kong setup.

You also need to decide the topology (traditional, DB-less or hybrid) and whether a vendor-hosted control plane such as Kong Konnect or Tyk Cloud fits your data rules. Gaps in these areas usually add scope.

Do SSO and OIDC need a commercial license in Kong or Tyk?

In Kong, the OpenID Connect plugin is an Enterprise tier plugin according to Kong's plugin documentation, so it is not part of the open-source gateway. The open-source line still includes JWT, basic auth, OAuth and ACL authentication, which can cover some federated setups when your identity provider issues tokens the gateway can validate. In Tyk, the open-source gateway lists JWT, bearer tokens, Basic Auth and client certificates. The supplied facts do not confirm a native OIDC login flow in the open-source gateway, and the Dashboard and Developer Portal, which manage developer access, require a license. Confirm with each vendor whether the flow you need is in the open-source edition, then test token validation in staging before you commit.

Can our team run a Kong or Tyk gateway without outside help?

Possibly, if you already run Kubernetes or virtual machine fleets, own your API definitions and have capacity for patching and security testing. The work includes choosing a topology, designing identity and network paths, building CI/CD for gateway configuration, setting up backups, planning upgrades within the support windows, and testing before cutover. A team new to API gateways will face a learning curve on plugin behavior, failover and certificate handling. DeployOpen offers fixed-scope engagements with written deliverables, and retainers for ongoing upgrades and testing, so outside help is optional. Estimate your effort by listing routes, plugins, identity flows and environments, then compare that list against the skills you have on staff.

How DeployOpen helps choose, implement or migrate your gateway

DeployOpen plans, implements, integrates, hardens, documents and supports self-hosted open-source platforms inside your own cloud accounts, data centers or air-gapped networks. For Kong vs Tyk, we start by confirming which gateway fits your traffic, identity and deployment model before any build work begins.

How we scope

Review your API inventory, traffic patterns and identity providers to decide which gateway fits your environment
Confirm whether you need Kong's OpenID Connect plugin or Tyk's Dashboard and Portal, and what each license would cover
Agree scope, deliverables and timelines in writing before any work starts, with a quote that follows from that scope

How we build

Deploy the chosen gateway in traditional, DB-less or hybrid mode for Kong, or the Tyk Gateway with Redis for Tyk, inside your infrastructure
Build and test custom plugins in Lua, Go or JavaScript for Kong, or in Python, JavaScript, Go or gRPC for Tyk
Run authentication, rate limiting and routing tests against your own services and document each configuration change

How we hand over

Deliver runbooks for deployment, upgrades, backups and rollback, tailored to your chosen topology and license tier
Provide configuration as code, access control records and evidence that supports your internal or external compliance assessments
Walk your platform and security teams through operation, and document which licensed features remain outside the build

How we support

Offer ongoing support, upgrades and continuous testing as a retainer after handover, scoped in writing
Track vendor release lines and support windows so your upgrade plan stays aligned with the versions you run
Re-test gateway configuration after major changes, and confirm with your vendor any licensing changes before you adopt them

Kong vs Tyk