--- title: "Kong AI Gateway alternatives | Agent MCP Directory" description: "3 alternatives to Kong AI Gateway for fronting agent traffic, each with one sourced difference. Scored on the same published rubric, read 4 November 2026." canonical: https://agentmcpdirectory.com/hosts/kong-ai-gateway/alternatives site: "Agent MCP Directory" last_updated: 2026-11-04 section: "Hosts and registries" --- # Kong AI Gateway alternatives | Agent MCP Directory > 3 alternatives to Kong AI Gateway for fronting agent traffic, each with one sourced difference. Scored on the same published rubric, read 4 November 2026. Source: https://agentmcpdirectory.com/hosts/kong-ai-gateway/alternatives Site: Agent MCP Directory Last reviewed: 2026-11-04 # 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](https://developers.cloudflare.com/cloudflare-one/access-controls/ai-controls/mcp-portals/), 4 November 2026); Kong AI Gateway reads "model APIs, MCP, A2A" ([source](https://developer.konghq.com/ai-gateway/), 4 November 2026). MCP traffic is fronted by MCP server portals, a separate product. [Cloudflare AI Gateway profile](https://agentmcpdirectory.com/hosts/cloudflare-ai-gateway/) ### 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](https://vercel.com/docs/mcp/deploy-mcp-servers-to-vercel), 4 November 2026); Kong AI Gateway reads "model APIs, MCP, A2A" ([source](https://developer.konghq.com/ai-gateway/), 4 November 2026). MCP servers are hosted with mcp-handler, not fronted by the gateway. [Vercel AI Gateway profile](https://agentmcpdirectory.com/hosts/vercel-ai-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](https://portkey.ai/docs/product/mcp-gateway), 4 November 2026); Kong AI Gateway reads "model APIs, MCP, A2A" ([source](https://developer.konghq.com/ai-gateway/), 4 November 2026). MCP Gateway and Registry. [Portkey profile](https://agentmcpdirectory.com/hosts/portkey/), [Portkey vs Kong AI Gateway](https://agentmcpdirectory.com/compare/portkey-vs-kong-ai-gateway/) Edition 4 November 2026 Method [How rows are verified](https://agentmcpdirectory.com/method/) Data [CSV and JSON](https://agentmcpdirectory.com/data/) Markdown [This page as markdown](https://agentmcpdirectory.com/hosts/kong-ai-gateway/alternatives/index.md) ## Sources - [Kong AI Gateway home](https://developer.konghq.com/ai-gateway/), read 4 November 2026 - [Cloudflare AI Gateway: developers.cloudflare.com/cloudflare-one/access-controls/ai-controls/mcp-portals](https://developers.cloudflare.com/cloudflare-one/access-controls/ai-controls/mcp-portals/), read 4 November 2026 - [Vercel AI Gateway: vercel.com/docs/mcp/deploy-mcp-servers-to-vercel](https://vercel.com/docs/mcp/deploy-mcp-servers-to-vercel), read 4 November 2026 - [Portkey: portkey.ai/docs/product/mcp-gateway](https://portkey.ai/docs/product/mcp-gateway), read 4 November 2026 Last reviewed 4 November 2026