Top 6 Kong Alternatives for AI Gateways and Agent Data Access (2026)

Kong is an API and AI gateway that governs LLM, MCP, and agent-to-agent traffic across services. But depending on whether you need to govern AI traffic at the gateway layer or connect agents to governed enterprise data, another tool may fit better.

The best alternatives to Kong are CData Connect AI, Apigee, Gravitee, Solo.io, Tyk, and Portkey. This guide breaks down what each is best for, where it falls short, and how to choose.

Key takeaways

• Kong governs and routes LLM/MCP/A2A traffic well, but it doesn't build data-source connectors, value assumes you already have APIs or MCP servers to front.

• If the goal is connecting agents to governed enterprise data, CData Connect AI provides the connectivity layer a gateway sits in front of.

• Apigee, Gravitee, io, and Tyk are the closest API/AI-gateway alternatives; Portkey is the AI-native LLM gateway challenger.

• Gateways and connectivity are complementary, many stacks run both.

Understanding Kong

Kong's AI Gateway adds multi-LLM proxying, semantic routing and caching, and prompt guardrails on top of its API gateway, with an MCP Proxy and a newer Agent Gateway for agent-to-agent traffic, all managed via the Konnect control plane. It's aimed at platform teams governing AI and API traffic at scale.

Teams look for Kong alternatives when they want an AI-native LLM gateway, a Kubernetes-native or OSS-friendly option, deeper Google Cloud integration, or, importantly, an actual connectivity layer to enterprise data rather than only traffic governance.

The best Kong alternatives

1. CData Connect AI

CData Connect AI is a managed Model Context Protocol (MCP) platform for enterprise data. With Connect AI, your AI agents and assistants gain governed, live access to hundreds of enterprise data sources through a single endpoint. Rather than copying data into a new system, Connect AI queries each source directly and passes through the user's existing roles and permissions, so agents inherit the governance an organization already trusts.

Key advantages

• One managed MCP endpoint to hundreds of sources: databases, cloud warehouses, SaaS apps, APIs, and files. AI-agnostic across Claude, ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot Studio, Cursor, LangChain, n8n, and any MCP-capable client.

• Semantic intelligence: full-fidelity access to each service's data model, including custom objects and fields, so LLMs can find and use relationships within and across services, query push-down and a lean token footprint, universal tools for the most exploratory, probabilistic workflows, and custom MCP toolkits for deterministic workflows (covering every level of the spectrum of autonomy).

• Passthrough authentication so agents inherit each user's roles and permissions (with downscoping available); RBAC; complete, user-attributed audit logging; OAuth 2.1/PKCE, SSO, and TLS 1.3.

No data copies, certified SOC 2 Type II and ISO/IEC 27001, with governed, traceable write-back. A free Developer Edition and an open-source Python SDK round out the managed remote MCP servers. See the Quick Start Guide to set up your first connection.

• Best for: Enterprise teams that need agents to reach real business data (databases, warehouses, and SaaS apps) under existing governance, without building or maintaining connectors themselves.

• Trade-offs: It's a connectivity and governance layer, not an agent builder or workflow suite. You bring your own agent framework or AI client on top.

2. Apigee

Apigee is Google Cloud's enterprise API-management platform, now adding LLM governance (token budgets, model discovery) through API Hub.

• Best for: Large enterprises, especially on Google Cloud, governing APIs and LLM traffic together.

• Trade-offs: API-management-centric with newer MCP/agent features; strongest inside the Google Cloud orbit.

3. Gravitee

Gravitee is an API-management platform whose Agent Mesh bundles an LLM proxy with MCP and agent-to-agent (A2A) governance.

• Best for: Teams that want LLM, MCP, and A2A governance packaged with their API management.

• Trade-offs: Smaller footprint than Kong or Apigee; broad capability set that's still maturing in places.

4. Solo.io

Solo.io's Gloo AI Gateway (and kgateway) is a Kubernetes-native API/AI gateway with MCP support.

• Best for: Cloud-native, Envoy-based teams that want a Kubernetes-native AI gateway.

• Trade-offs: Requires Kubernetes expertise and is infrastructure-heavy; not a data-connectivity layer.

5. Tyk

Tyk is an open-source-rooted API gateway with an AI governance suite (Tyk AI Studio) covering budgets, model catalogs, guardrails, and MCP.

• Best for: OSS-friendly teams that want LLM and API governance without heavy vendor lock-in.

• Trade-offs: Smaller ecosystem than the market leaders; some AI features are relatively new.

6. Portkey

Portkey is an AI-native gateway and observability layer supporting 250+ models, prompt management, guardrails, and an MCP gateway.

• Best for: Teams routing and observing many LLMs with centralized prompt and guardrail management.

• Trade-offs: LLM-gateway focused rather than enterprise-data connectivity; a younger, AI-first challenger.

Kong alternatives compared

How to choose a Kong alternative

• Governed connectivity to enterprise data for agents → CData Connect AI

• Enterprise API + LLM governance → Apigee or Gravitee

• Kubernetes-native gateway → Solo.io

• OSS-friendly gateway → Tyk

• AI-native LLM routing/observability → Portkey

A gateway governs traffic; a connectivity layer reaches data, most enterprises need both.

Frequently asked questions

Connect AI: the governed data layer for your agents

If your goal is to give AI agents trustworthy, governed access to enterprise data, not just route AI traffic, CData Connect AI provides live, permissioned connectivity to hundreds of sources through a single MCP endpoint. Learn more about CData Connect AI.