Kong Gateway WAF vs Traceable Application & API Security Platform

Kong Gateway WAF

Model: Tiered (Plus per-gateway + Enterprise custom)

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Traceable Application & API Security Platform

Model: Enterprise subscription (custom pricing)

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Kong Gateway WAF

• Gateway-Embedded WAF

  WAF runs as a plugin inside the Kong Gateway process, inspecting API traffic at the same layer where routing, authentication, and rate limiting occur. No separate WAF appliance or additional proxy hop needed.

• OWASP Top 10 Protection

  Built-in protection against common web application attacks including SQL injection, cross-site scripting, command injection, and path traversal at the API gateway layer.

• Plugin Ecosystem

  Over 100 plugins for security, traffic control, authentication, and observability. WAF works alongside bot detection, IP restriction, CORS, ACL, and rate limiting plugins in a configurable execution chain.

• Third-Party WAF Integrations

  Open plugin architecture supports third-party WAF engines including open-appsec (ML-driven detection) and Wallarm (API security). Teams can choose the WAF engine that fits their threat model.

• Kubernetes-Native Deployment

  Kong Ingress Controller and Kong Kubernetes Operator provide native Kubernetes integration. WAF policies can be managed declaratively through Kubernetes CRDs alongside gateway configuration.

• Hybrid Mode

  Cloud-managed control plane with self-hosted data planes. WAF policies are centrally managed and distributed to data planes running in any environment, including air-gapped networks.

• AI Gateway

  Dedicated AI gateway capabilities including LLM proxy, token-based rate limiting, semantic caching, PII sanitization, prompt guardrails, and MCP server proxy. WAF protects AI endpoints alongside traditional APIs.

• Declarative Configuration

  Gateway and WAF configuration can be managed as code through declarative YAML/JSON, enabling GitOps workflows and CI/CD pipeline integration for security policy changes.

• Advanced Rate Limiting

  Enterprise-grade rate limiting with sliding window counters, consumer groups, and cluster-wide synchronization. Works in conjunction with WAF to prevent both application-layer attacks and abuse.

Traceable Application & API Security Platform

• API Discovery & Posture Management

  Automatically discover every API from live production traffic including REST, GraphQL, gRPC, SOAP, and WebSocket. Identifies shadow, zombie, and orphaned APIs with continuous risk assessment.

• Runtime WAAP Protection

  Cloud-native WAF and API protection against OWASP Top 10, OWASP API Top 10, SQL injection, XSS, and application-layer attacks with behavioral ML detection.

• API Security Testing (AST)

  Zero-config security tests generated from real and replayed traffic. Integrated with CI/CD pipelines for automated pre-production vulnerability discovery. No inactive endpoint noise.

• Bot Protection

  Advanced bot detection using behavioral analysis, volumetric detection, browser/device anomaly detection, and custom policies. Distinguishes legitimate bots from malicious automation.

• DDoS Protection

  Mitigates large-scale traffic floods and application-layer DDoS attacks with rate limiting and anomaly-based detection.

• Sensitive Data Discovery

  Automatically identify API endpoints handling sensitive data (PII, financial, regulated) without appropriate authentication or zero-trust policies.

• AI-Powered Insights

  AI chatbot for natural-language queries about APIs, threats, and exposures. AI explains detected issues, assesses severity, and recommends remediation in developer-friendly language.

• WAF Integration

  Integrates with existing WAFs (AWS WAF, Cloudflare) to add API context and advanced threat detection without replacing your current security stack.