All comparisons
toran vs Kong
Kong is an open-source API gateway and service mesh. Teams use it to manage, secure, and route traffic for APIs they expose, with plugins for authentication, rate limiting, logging, and more.
What Kong is good at
- ✓Managing and routing traffic for APIs you expose
- ✓Adding authentication, rate limiting, and security policies via plugins
- ✓Service mesh capabilities for microservices communication
- ✓Extensive plugin ecosystem for logging, transformations, and integrations
Where it falls short for API debugging
- △Designed for APIs you serve, not third-party APIs you consume
- △Requires infrastructure setup and operational overhead
- △Focused on policy enforcement and routing rather than passive observation
How toran is different
- →toran observes outbound API requests with no infrastructure to operate
- →Passive inspection: no routing, policies, or request modification
- →Activated by swapping a base URL, not deploying gateway infrastructure
- →Read-only by design: no plugins, no transformations, no blocking
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Quick decision rule
Use Kong to manage, secure, and route APIs you expose with full gateway capabilities. Use toran to observe outbound API calls to third-party services without infrastructure overhead.
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See your outbound API requests in seconds - no setup required.