Which API gateway is best for microservices?
I have been researching on what is the best API gateway to use for microservice architecture.
I am wondering which one is more suitable for a microservices architecture.
I know about many things but my question is about something different. Does this have something to do with the backend of the API gateway? There's a good comparison of popular micro-service back-end gateways here: The article also lists the strengths and weaknesses of each: Azure Service Fabric. Kestrel. RESTify. Noplo. So, in short, there is no "best". It depends on your needs, your architecture, and your constraints (mostly about cost).
What is the most widely used API gateway?
If it were asked a year ago, we'd answer either API.
Com or Envoy. In 2025, I suspect most people will answer API Management.
Since many API-oriented products started as API Management products, let's examine this claim using the Kephas community rating system: This year I looked at every product that is at least A, meaning it achieved 2-3 stars from a representative set of users (ie at least 10 reviews). In total, I rated about 20 APIs.
Kephas does not rate every product or feature, as the above chart shows. This should be enough to identify the most popular products.
In case you want more detail, here are some further details on why these particular metrics work for this investigation: Product rating. Kephas products all have user ratings associated with them, so they will inevitably cluster naturally into stars bins. We find most of our rated products by looking at how often each star rating appears. If you can see what looks like an outlier in a bin (eg it has too many ratings in it), you might then look into it to uncover the reasoning. For example, a product with lots of 5-star reviews probably has a good UX or really popular features.
This part of Kephas' evaluation system means it can also serve as a useful proxy for other types of metrics (which are very much coming up in the rest of the post). Metrics. It would be impossible to list all the individual metrics used to compare products; however, they do roughly fall into three categories: Ecosystem Metrics: How well does the software fit with the rest of an ecosystem, such as Open APIs or serverless? Ease of Integration Metrics: How easy is the API gateway to integrate with backend systems? Performance Metrics: Is it faster than competitors for most API operations (typically requests and responses)? Value for Money Metrics: How effective is it against competing products?
What is the alternative of API gateway in AWS?
I have a server with 3 IP addresses, a load balancer and 2 backend servers.
I am using a custom domain name for my application. What is the best practice for implementing the API? Should I create a VPC and add a public IP address? How to make my server accessible from internet if I add a public IP address? There are several alternatives to API Gateway, each with their own pros and cons. Using API Gateway. API Gateway is easy to setup and you can use the free tier which has a limit of 10,000 requests/day. If you need more requests, you can upgrade to a paid tier.
API Gateway is not the fastest or cheapest service, but it's great for those who just need a basic API service. Here are some of the limitations of API Gateway: HTTP response caching is limited to 1 hour. You cannot set up HTTPS endpoint (only HTTP). The requests are limited to 10,000 requests per day. Other alternatives. You have a few other options besides API Gateway that are good options for serving APIs, these are: Service Fabric. You can run your application inside a microservice fabric cluster. Each cluster node can host an API and expose the service through a domain name. There are many pros and cons with this solution and the documentation has a good walkthrough of how to do this.
Azure API Management. The Azure API Management service is a great alternative to API Gateway. It works in a similar way to API Gateway in that you can create an API that has a custom domain name. This is also a paid service, but there is a free plan for a few API calls per month.
Azure API App. The Azure API App is a newer service than API Management, but is free to use for both the developer and the consumer of the API. The consumer uses the app to consume the API, and the developer can use the app to create the API. API Apps work in a similar way to API Gateway.
Which is best? It depends on what you're looking to do. If you're looking to build a scalable and robust service then API Management is the service of choice. If you're looking for something simple then API Gateway is a good option.
Related Answers
What is Apisix used for?
Apisix was initially created as a solution for a simple customer retention problem...
Is Apache Apisix any good?
Apisix is a cloud-based, SaaS product that automates the management and deployment of OpenS...
What is the alternative to Apisix?
Apisix is currently the only enterprise-ready real-time security and ale...