Alternatives to Kong AI Gateway
Kong AI Gateway has 3 alternatives on this directory's rubric: Cloudflare AI Gateway, Vercel AI Gateway, Portkey. Each entry below states one difference between it and Kong AI Gateway, with the evidence and a source link. Kong AI Gateway is operated by Kong.
The 3 alternatives
Cloudflare AI Gateway
A proxy in front of model providers with free caching, rate limiting and analytics, optional Unified Billing, and from 3 Nov 2026 required authentication on new gateways.
Difference on protocols fronted: Cloudflare AI Gateway reads "model APIs; MCP goes through portals" (source, 4 November 2026); Kong AI Gateway reads "model APIs, MCP, A2A" (source, 4 November 2026). MCP traffic is fronted by MCP server portals, a separate product.
Vercel AI Gateway
A model gateway that bills at provider list price with no token markup, supports BYOK without a fee, and charges for add-ons such as custom reporting and team-wide ZDR.
Difference on protocols fronted: Vercel AI Gateway reads "model APIs" (source, 4 November 2026); Kong AI Gateway reads "model APIs, MCP, A2A" (source, 4 November 2026). MCP servers are hosted with mcp-handler, not fronted by the gateway.
Portkey
An AI gateway with an MCP Gateway that checks the caller, injects upstream credentials, provisions tools per user and logs every tool call; now sold as Prisma AIRS AI Gateway.
Difference on protocols fronted: Portkey reads "model APIs and MCP" (source, 4 November 2026); Kong AI Gateway reads "model APIs, MCP, A2A" (source, 4 November 2026). MCP Gateway and Registry.