Kong Free Plan 2026: What's Included & What's Not
Honest breakdown of the free tier limits and features
Kong costs Free to $500 per month as of March 2026. Pricing depends on your chosen tier, contract length, and negotiated discounts.
Use the interactive pricing calculator to estimate your exact cost based on team size and requirements.
- Free tier: No free tier available
Yes, Kong offers a forever free plan as of March 2026. The free tier includes 9 features with limits on support and features. Paid plans start at $105/per service/month (Konnect Plus). Pricing verified from 1 sources by CostBench.
Kong's free plan is available indefinitely with no time limit.
What's Included in the Free Plan
- Core API gateway features
- Load balancing
- Health checks
- Rate limiting
- Authentication plugins
- Logging and monitoring
- Community support
- Self-hosted deployment
- Unlimited API calls
What's NOT Included (Paid Only)
- All Open Source features
- Serverless, Self-Hosted, or Dedicated Cloud deployment
- Usage-based pricing ($34.25 per million requests)
- Cloud-native control plane
- Service catalog
- Advanced analytics
- Dev Portal
- Multi-cloud support
- Standard support
- 30-day free trial
Free Plan Limits
| Limit | Free Plan | Paid Plans |
|---|---|---|
| support | Community only | Unlimited/Higher |
| features | Core features | Unlimited/Higher |
You'll Need to Upgrade When...
- You exceed the user limit
- You need features like All Open Source features or Serverless, Self-Hosted, or Dedicated Cloud deployment
- You require premium support or SLA guarantees
- You need to remove branding or watermarks
- You need advanced integrations or API access
Hidden Restrictions on Free Plan
- Kong branding may appear on your content or communications
- Support is limited to community forums or email with longer response times
- Export options may be restricted or include watermarks
- API access is typically limited or not available
- Advanced reporting and analytics require paid plans
Free vs Paid: Which Do You Need?
Free Plan is Enough If...
- You're an individual or very small team
- You need only basic features
- You don't mind usage limits
- Branding on output is acceptable
- Community support is sufficient
You Need Paid If...
- Your team is growing beyond limits
- You need advanced features
- Professional branding is required
- You need priority support
- Integrations/API access is critical
Free vs Konnect Plus Plan Comparison
| Open Source $0 | Konnect Plus $105/per service/month | |
|---|---|---|
| Features | 9 included | 10+ included |
| Support | Community/Email | Priority Support |
| Branding | Kong branding | Your branding |
| Best For | Developers and small teams looking for a free, self-hosted API gateway with core features | Growing organizations needing flexible deployment options with usage-based pricing for production APIs |
Frequently Asked Questions
01 Is Kong free?
Yes, Kong offers a forever free plan with 9 core features included. However, there are limits on support, features that may require upgrading.
02 What's included in Kong's free plan?
Kong's free plan includes: Core API gateway features, Load balancing, Health checks, Rate limiting, Authentication plugins, and 4 more features. Key limits include support: Community only, features: Core features.
03 What's NOT included in Kong's free plan?
The free plan excludes: All Open Source features, Serverless, Self-Hosted, or Dedicated Cloud deployment, Usage-based pricing ($34.25 per million requests), Cloud-native control plane, Service catalog. You'll also have Kong branding and limited support options.
04 When should I upgrade from Kong's free plan?
Consider upgrading when: you hit user or storage limits, need features like All Open Source features or Serverless, Self-Hosted, or Dedicated Cloud deployment, require premium support, or want to remove branding. The cheapest paid plan starts at $105/per service/month.
05 Is Kong's free plan really free forever?
Yes, Kong's free plan is available indefinitely with no time limit. However, feature and usage limits may restrict what you can do without upgrading to a paid plan.