# Alternatives to WSO2 API Manager WSO2 API Manager is an open-source, full-lifecycle API management platform for creating, publishing, securing, and monetizing APIs; self-hosted or as SaaS (Choreo/Bijira). WSO2 API Manager ranks #4 of 8 in API gateways, with an Alt Score of 100. It is licensed under Apache-2.0, open source with paid hosting from Free and available on the web. 13 of 13 checklist rows are verified against a public source. Source: https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/wso2/ Category: API gateways ## Overview - **Who it's for**: WSO2 API Manager is built for platform engineering and API teams at enterprises that need to design, secure, publish, and govern APIs across on-premise, hybrid, and Kubernetes environments without vendor lock-in. - **What you get**: A complete, Apache-2.0 open-source API management platform covering API design and lifecycle management, an API Gateway (classic or the newer Envoy-based/Kubernetes-native APK gateway), a Developer Portal for API discovery and subscription, OAuth2/JWT/API-key security with threat protection, rate limiting and throttling, and a built-in API Analytics dashboard. - **How it works**: Teams self-host WSO2 API Manager on their own servers, bare metal, cloud, or Kubernetes cluster (or consume it as managed SaaS via WSO2's Choreo/Bijira cloud), design REST, GraphQL, gRPC, WebSocket, and AI/MCP APIs through the Publisher web app, secure and rate-limit them with built-in policies, expose them to consumers via the Developer Portal, and manage deployments declaratively through the apictl CLI or Kubernetes CRDs for CI/CD and GitOps pipelines. ## Profile - **License**: Apache-2.0 (verified 2026-07-17) - **Pricing model**: OSS + paid hosting (verified 2026-07-17) - **Starts at**: Free (verified 2026-07-17) - **Platforms**: Web - **Status**: active (verified 2026-07-17) ## Ranked alternatives | # | App | Alt Score | Licence | Platforms | |---|-----|-----------|---------|-----------| | 1 | [Gravitee](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/gravitee.md) | 100 | Apache-2.0 | Web | | 2 | [Kong](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/kong.md) | 100 | Apache-2.0 | Web | | 3 | [Tyk](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/tyk.md) | 100 | MPL-2.0 | Web | | 4 | [Apigee](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/apigee.md) | 89 | Proprietary — Google Cloud managed service | Web | | 5 | [KrakenD](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/krakend.md) | 86 | Apache-2.0 | Linux, Web | | 6 | [Traefik Hub](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/traefik-hub.md) | 86 | Proprietary | Web | | 7 | [Zuplo](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/zuplo.md) | 86 | Proprietary — Zuplo gateway platform; Zudoku developer portal component is open source (MIT) | Web | Alt Score = Verified coverage (90%) + Visibility (10%). See https://altcatalog.com/how-alt-score-works/ ## Feature comparison Legend: Yes / No / Partial / ? (not verified). | API gateways checklist | WSO2 API Manager | Gravitee | Kong | Tyk | Apigee | KrakenD | |---|---|---|---|---|---|---| | Pricing model | OSS + paid hosting | OSS + paid hosting | OSS + paid hosting | OSS + paid hosting | Usage-based | OSS + paid hosting | | Starts at | Free | $2,500/month | $25/month | Free | $20 per 1M API calls | Free | | License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 | MPL-2.0 | Proprietary — Google Cloud managed service | Apache-2.0 | | Platforms | Web | Web | Web | Web | Web | Linux, Web | | Open source | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | | Self-hostable | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial | Yes | | Managed / SaaS option | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | | Rate limiting & throttling | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Authentication (OAuth/JWT/API keys) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Developer portal | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial | | Plugin / extension ecosystem | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Kubernetes-native / ingress | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial | | GraphQL support | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | | gRPC support | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Analytics & monitoring | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Declarative / GitOps config | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | | WAF / security policies | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ## Sources Sources for WSO2 API Manager. Each alternative is sourced on its own page. - **License**: Apache-2.0 — (verified 2026-07-17) - Note: The product-apim repository LICENSE file is the standard Apache License 2.0 text; the GitHub README also badges the project as Apache 2.0. - Quote: “Apache License Version 2.0, January 2004” - **Pricing model**: OSS + paid hosting — (verified 2026-07-17) - Note: WSO2 API Manager itself is free, Apache-2.0 licensed open-source software; the paid subscription (see https://wso2.com/subscription/) covers production support, updates, and vulnerability monitoring, - Quote: “You can take advantage of a WSO2 on-prem product subscription for the full range of software product benefits needed in your enterprise, like expert support, continuous product updates, vulnerability ” - **Starts at**: Free — (verified 2026-07-17) - Note: The software is free and open source (Apache-2.0, self-hostable at no cost). WSO2's on-prem subscription (for commercial support/updates) does not disclose public pricing on the subscription page — it - Quote: “WSO2 offers a subscription for our on-prem products” - **Platforms**: Web — (verified 2026-07-17) - Note: WSO2 API Manager is server software (self-hosted or via Choreo/Bijira SaaS) administered and consumed entirely through web browser applications (Publisher, Developer Portal, Admin Portal); there is no - Quote: “API Publisher web application is running at: https://localhost:9443/publisher ... Developer Portal web application is running at: - https://localhost:9443/devportal” - **Status**: active — (verified 2026-07-17) - Note: v4.7.0 was published 2026-04-29 per the GitHub Releases API, following v4.6.0 (Nov 2024); the project ships regular major/minor releases and continues active development (e.g. the new Envoy-based API - Quote: “WSO2 API Manager 4.7.0 Released!” - **Open source**: Yes — (verified 2026-07-17) - Quote: “WSO2 API Manager is a fully open-source API management platform.” - **Self-hostable**: Yes — (verified 2026-07-17) - Note: Confirmed also by the GitHub README installation steps: extract the release zip and run api-manager.sh/api-manager.bat on your own server. - Quote: “Deploy directly to your own servers, bare metal, cloud, or Kubernetes environment. Your data never leaves your perimeter.” - **Managed / SaaS option**: Yes — (verified 2026-07-17) - Note: WSO2's managed SaaS offerings for API management are branded Choreo and Bijira (Bijira quoted here); a "99.95% SLA with automated failover" is also stated on this page. - Quote: “Get started in minutes on WSO2's cloud” - **Rate limiting & throttling**: Yes — (verified 2026-07-17) - Quote: “Rate limiting allows you to limit the number of successful hits to an API during a given period, typically in cases such as the following: To protect your APIs from common types of security attacks su” - **Authentication (OAuth/JWT/API keys)**: Yes — (verified 2026-07-17) - Note: WSO2 API Manager also supports plain API key authentication; see https://apim.docs.wso2.com/en/4.5.0/manage-apis/design/api-security/api-authentication/secure-apis-using-api-keys/ ("An API key is the - Quote: “WSO2 API Manager supports the use of self-contained and signed JWT formatted OAuth2.0 access tokens as API credentials.” - **Developer portal**: Yes — (verified 2026-07-17) - Quote: “The API Developer Portal includes a text-full search engine that helps your customers find APIs easily.” - **Plugin / extension ecosystem**: Yes — (verified 2026-07-17) - Quote: “It presents user-friendly extension opportunities to tailor authenticators, policies, mediations, API lifecycles, workflows, portals, and login pages to your specific needs.” - **Kubernetes-native / ingress**: Yes — (verified 2026-07-17) - Note: WSO2 APK (API Platform for Kubernetes) is WSO2's dedicated Kubernetes-native gateway product within the API Manager family, referenced directly from the product-apim README ("we recommend you check ou - Quote: “WSO2 Kubernetes Gateway is an open-source platform for providing complete API Management capabilities on top of the Kubernetes cluster management platform.” - **GraphQL support**: Yes — (verified 2026-07-17) - Note: This is the WSO2 API Manager documentation page for designing and publishing GraphQL APIs using an SDL schema. - Quote: “GraphQL, which has been developed by Facebook, is a data query language for APIs. When using GraphQL, users can explicitly specify as to what data they need from an API.” - **gRPC support**: Yes — (verified 2026-07-17) - Note: WSO2's Kubernetes-native gateway (APK) also explicitly documents gRPC API support: "Currently, WSO2 Kubernetes Gateway supports REST APIs, GraphQL APIs and gRPC APIs." (https://apk.docs.wso2.com/en/la - Quote: “Handle REST, GraphQL, gRPC, WebSockets, Webhooks, MCP, and LLM traffic from a single platform.” - **Analytics & monitoring**: Yes — (verified 2026-07-17) - Quote: “WSO2 API Managers API Analytics Dashboard provides insights into your APIs. These insights can help you to understand your customers and make important strategic business decisions.” - **Declarative / GitOps config**: Yes — (verified 2026-07-17) - Note: For non-Kubernetes deployments, the apictl CLI supports treating APIs as version-controlled projects for CI/CD/GitOps pipelines; see https://apim.docs.wso2.com/en/4.5.0/install-and-setup/setup/api-con - Quote: “Custom resource definitions (CRDs) are utilized internally to define the APIs (known as ingress resources), policies, and other required information for API deployment.” - **WAF / security policies**: Yes — (verified 2026-07-17) - Note: The gateway also ships dedicated XML/JSON/regex threat protectors for payload validation, documented at https://apim.docs.wso2.com/en/4.2.0/deploy-and-publish/deploy-on-gateway/api-gateway/threat-prot - Quote: “WSO2 API Manager is empowered with advanced threat protection and bot detection features” --- Ranked by verified data, never by who paid. https://altcatalog.com/trust/