Ask HN: API Proxy vs. API Gateway?

2 pointsgladwindos2 comments

What would you say are the differences between an API Proxy and an API Gateway, and what would you use each for?

I’m assuming that an API Gateway can do anything an API Proxy can do, but I’m wondering what features you think separate the two and if you have different use cases in mind when you are looking to add one of these layers.

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I'd say the Gateway also does load balancing, actively checks if the target is still online. And possibly works seemless together with other Gateways, for example for rate limiting you might need several nodes to combine their metrics.

We use Kong open source gateway. Anything they had in version 0.9 was sufficient for our use case but they're a VC funded company so they keep adding more features, especially enterprise features (ignore the AI stuff in the latest version). Configuration can now be in a database, or in files, or updated via an API.

Ok load balancing definitely seems like a feature that seems out of scope of an API Proxy. Do you use the Kong gateway for microservices?

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