Compare AWS API Gateway, Cloudflare Workers, and Kong Konnect pricing. Enter request volume and data transfer → see exact monthly cost.
Select provider · Enter request volume and transfer · Results update live
Monthly cost for 10M requests · 50 GB transfer.
| Provider | Requests | Transfer | Free tier | 10M req / 50GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cloudflare WorkersCHEAPEST | $0.50/M | Free | 10M req/day (free plan) | $0 |
| Kong Konnect | $2.00/M | $0.05/GB | 1M req/mo | $20.50 |
| AWS API Gateway | $3.50/M | $0.09/GB | 1M calls/mo (12 mo) | $39.50 |
AWS API Gateway at $3.50/M often doubles your Lambda bill. A Lambda function at $3.47/month for 10M invocations + API Gateway at $35 = $38.47 total. Cloudflare Workers ($5/mo Paid plan) is often far cheaper for simple APIs.
Find your true API gateway cost — including transfer fees that are often overlooked.
A production REST API handling 100M requests/month with 5KB average response (500GB transfer): AWS REST API Gateway = $350 (requests) + $45 (transfer) = $395/month. AWS HTTP API Gateway = $100 + $45 = $145/month. Cloudflare Workers = $5 plan + $45 included-free = $5/month. Same workload, 79× cost difference between AWS REST and Cloudflare.
How we source API gateway pricing data.
Sources: AWS API Gateway pricing from AWS pricing page (REST API and HTTP API are priced separately — HTTP API is 71% cheaper for the same request volume). Cloudflare Workers pricing from Cloudflare's pricing page. Kong Konnect pricing from Kong's pricing page (self-managed Kong is free open source; Konnect is the managed offering).
Data transfer methodology: Transfer pricing represents egress from the gateway to clients. AWS charges $0.09/GB regardless of request volume. Cloudflare Workers includes unlimited egress (no transfer fees) — this is one of Cloudflare's key cost advantages over AWS. Kong Konnect charges $0.05/GB. We apply user-entered transfer volume directly against each provider's published egress rate.
What is excluded: Lambda function costs behind the gateway (see Serverless Cost Calculator), CloudWatch Logs ($0.50/GB), AWS WAF ($5/month + $0.60/M requests if enabled), rate limiting configuration costs, and API key management fees. The calculator shows gateway costs only — a complete API infrastructure budget should add backend compute separately.
Free tier handling: AWS API Gateway's free tier (1M calls/month for 12 months) applies only during the first year. Cloudflare Workers free plan (100K requests/day = 3M/month) is permanent but has CPU time limits unsuitable for consistent production workloads. The calculator shows post-free-tier costs as a sustainable long-term cost estimate.
Yes, significantly. Cloudflare Workers paid plan ($5/month) includes 10M requests with additional requests at $0.50/M and no transfer fees. AWS API Gateway REST at $3.50/M for 10M requests = $35/month plus transfer. For 10M requests with 50GB transfer, Cloudflare costs $5 vs AWS REST at $39.50 — nearly 8× cheaper. The trade-off: Cloudflare Workers has a V8 isolate execution model (lightweight, no Node.js-compatible runtime), which requires code to be written for that environment.
Not always. Lambda Function URLs (free) expose a Lambda function directly over HTTPS without API Gateway costs. Use Lambda Function URLs for: simple webhooks, single-function APIs, or when you don't need routing, auth, rate limiting, or caching. Use API Gateway when you need: multiple routes/endpoints, JWT/IAM authentication, per-client usage plans and throttling, response caching ($0.02/GB-hour), or WebSocket support. Skipping API Gateway saves $3.50/M requests — at 100M requests/month, that's $350/month saved.
AWS HTTP API is a newer, simplified version at $1/M requests (vs $3.50/M for REST). HTTP API lacks some features: no response caching, no API keys/usage plans, limited WAF support, fewer logging options. REST API has full feature parity but costs 3.5× more. For most modern APIs using JWTs for auth and without complex usage plan requirements, HTTP API is the better choice. Migrating from REST to HTTP API at 50M requests/month saves $125/month.
API Gateways handle Layer 7 (application-level) routing based on URL paths, HTTP methods, headers, and auth tokens. They typically include request transformation, rate limiting, and API key management. Load balancers (AWS ALB, NGINX) distribute traffic across multiple backend servers based on health and load — they don't inspect or modify request content beyond basic routing. For traditional server-based APIs, ALB at $0.008/LCU-hour is often cheaper than API Gateway and avoids per-request charges at high volume.
Kong is an open-source API gateway built on NGINX with a plugin ecosystem for authentication, rate limiting, transformations, and observability. Self-hosted Kong is free and can run on any VPS. Kong Konnect is the managed cloud version at $2/M requests. Use Kong when you need an API gateway that runs across multiple cloud providers or on-premises environments, want to avoid vendor lock-in, or need advanced plugins not available in AWS API Gateway. For multi-cloud architectures, Kong's portability is worth the operational overhead.
Key cost reduction strategies: (1) Switch from AWS REST to HTTP API Gateway — instant 71% cost reduction if you don't need REST-specific features. (2) Enable response caching ($0.02/GB-hour) — for cacheable endpoints, cached responses skip backend compute and reduce per-request count. (3) Move to Cloudflare Workers for high-volume, simple APIs — no transfer fees plus lower per-request cost. (4) Use Lambda Function URLs instead of API Gateway for single-endpoint APIs. (5) Implement client-side request batching to reduce total API call count.