Comparisons with other API gateways
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The OWASP API Security Top 10 (2023) lists the most critical API security risks. An API gateway like STOA helps address several of these at the infrastructure layer — but not all of them. This article maps each OWASP risk to STOA's controls, with an honest assessment of what requires application-level implementation.
Proxy throughput benchmarks tell you how fast a gateway can forward HTTP requests. They tell you nothing about whether that gateway can serve AI agents, enforce guardrails on tool calls, or govern autonomous sessions. We built a new benchmark that measures what actually matters.
Migrating from Broadcom Layer7 API Gateway™ to an open-source alternative is a structured process that can be completed in 4-6 months using a phased, zero-downtime approach. This guide covers feature mapping, a five-phase migration roadmap, and practical guidance on translating Layer7's assertion-based policy model to modern open-source equivalents.
Kong and STOA both support the Model Context Protocol, but they approach it from opposite directions. Kong added MCP via plugins on its proven Nginx/Lua stack. STOA built MCP into the gateway core from day one. This article compares the two specifically on MCP capabilities — tool discovery, transport, authentication, governance, and agent workflow support — so you can choose the right MCP gateway for your AI agent architecture.
STOA Gateway adds less than 2 microseconds of total overhead per request with API key auth and rate limiting enabled. Every benchmark is reproducible with published scripts, and our Gateway Arena runs comparative tests every 30 minutes on identical infrastructure.
This post shares our benchmarking approach, key results, and how you can reproduce everything yourself.
Migrating from Axway API Gateway to an open-source alternative is a structured process that can be completed in 4-6 months using a phased, zero-downtime approach. This guide provides a feature mapping, migration roadmap, and practical advice for enterprise teams evaluating their options.
Three approaches dominate how AI agents call external tools in 2026: the Model Context Protocol (MCP), OpenAI Function Calling, and LangChain Tools. MCP is an open protocol for runtime tool discovery across any AI provider. OpenAI Function Calling is a proprietary API feature tightly integrated with OpenAI models. LangChain Tools is a framework abstraction that wraps tool definitions for orchestration pipelines. They solve different problems, operate at different layers, and can coexist in the same architecture.
WSO2 API Manager is an established open-source API management platform used by enterprises worldwide. As the API management landscape evolves — with AI agent protocols, Kubernetes-native architectures, and stricter European regulations — some teams are evaluating alternatives that better align with their current requirements. This guide provides a feature comparison, migration approach, and practical guidance.
If you are evaluating an Apigee alternative, you are not alone. Since Google absorbed Apigee into its cloud platform, a growing number of organizations have found themselves facing rising costs, deepening vendor lock-in, and an increasingly opaque product roadmap. The good news: open-source API gateways have matured to the point where migration is not just feasible — it is often a strategic improvement.
If you are evaluating API gateways in 2026, Kong is almost certainly on your shortlist. It deserves to be. Kong is a mature, battle-tested platform with a massive plugin ecosystem and years of production deployments. So why did we build STOA as a Kong alternative? Not because Kong is bad — but because the problem has changed.
For a broader comparison of open-source gateways, see our Open Source API Gateway Guide. For a comprehensive decision framework when migrating from any legacy platform, consult the API Gateway Migration Guide 2026.