kubernetes-ingress-controller VS Kong

Kong Ingress Controller for Kubernetes

Here you go! https://github.com/Kong/kubernetes-ingress-controller/issues/729

The key to handling modern dynamic, scalable workloads in Kubernetes is a networking stack that can deliver API management, a service mesh and an ingress controller. Kong Ingress Controller allows users to manage the routing rules that control external user access to the service in a Kubernetes cluster from the same platform.

For those organizations using Kubernetes for their container orchestration, Kong created the Kong Ingress Controller which implements authentication, transformations, and other functionalities (via plugins) across Kubernetes clusters. Kong Ingress Controller updates a standard Kubernetes implementation as shown below:

This article will walk through how easy it is to set up the open source Kong Ingress Controller as a Kubernetes API gateway on a cluster.

But here is the tricky part. There are lots of Ingress Controllers available. Some of them are opensource, but some of them are paid one. For this project I’ve chosen an “official” Kubernetes Ingress Controller based on Nginx. But please be not confused with another one, also based on Nginx but created by NGINX Inc - this one is paid. Apart from these both there are also other* Ingress Controller*s available like Kong Ingress, or Traefik.

Kong: A cloud-native, fast, scalable, and distributed Microservice Abstraction Layer (also known as an API Gateway or API Middleware). Made available as an open-source project in 2015, its core functionality is written in Lua and it runs on the nginx web server.

OPeNsOuRcE. Good time to switch to Kong, better option anyways.

Sounds like you want an API gateway? What about Kong?

Unquestionably no, Kong is "OpenResty plus a management plane" and they're Apache 2: https://github.com/kong/kong#license

Kong (https://konghq.com) | Gateway Senior Engineer | REMOTE Europe | Full-time

The Kong Gateway is an API Management solution, which serves as a foundation for many other solutions by the company. The business model is open-core: an Open Source solution exists (https://github.com/kong/kong), and there's an Enterprise version with more features and dedicated support.

The tech stack is a modified Openresty with of Lua code on top. The ideal candidate would be someone who is already familiar with Kong. Alternatively, if you are familiar with Openresty or other API management solution, we also would love to talk with you.

I am personally interested in finding people to join me in the European Gateway Team. The role involves adding features, fixing bugs, and collaborating with other teams. Here's that position:

https://jobs.lever.co/kong/c1a2b204-45a8-4c19-9cd4-d9824a778...

We have many projects and many teams all around the world (current headcount is ~450), using other technologies like Node in the Kong Manager or Go in the Koko project, and we are constantly looking for people. Please visit our careers page to find out more!

https://konghq.com/careers/

Kong Gateway allows the complexity of service-tier APIs to be reduced to a collection of endpoints (or URIs) focused on meeting a collection of business needs and functionality. Often-duplicated components (like authentication, logging, and security) are handled by the gateway and can be removed from the service-tier design.

I am seeing different companies taking different approach. I am not sure anymore where each should be actually used. On top of that tech like Kong make me question whether API Gateway should be one thing for all. Some perspective into this would be really appreciated.