This spotlight is part of our MCP company spotlights, within The MCP Guide. Building an MCP company? See SEO and GEO for MCP companies.
Kong is an API management company. For MCP, its AI Gateway carries MCP traffic alongside model and agent traffic, can turn existing REST APIs into MCP tools, and can combine tools from several MCP servers. Kong is also previewing an MCP Registry inside its Konnect platform.
Checked against: Kong's AI Gateway docs on 28 October 2026. eSEOspace did not test Kong's products.
Key Takeaways
- Kong's docs say you can "define a single endpoint for any traffic type: LLM, MCP, or A2A."
- The AI Gateway can map RESTful APIs to MCP tools and aggregate tools from multiple MCP servers.
- Kong's MCP Registry in the Konnect Catalog is "only available in tech preview," and you must ask Kong to enable it.
- AI Management Plus starts "from $25/month" plus usage, with 1 million requests included.
- MCP has no separate price at Kong; MCP calls count as gateway requests.
At a glance
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Company | Kong |
| What it offers for MCP | AI Gateway with MCP support, REST-to-MCP mapping, MCP tool aggregation, MCP Registry (preview) |
| Who it's for | Companies already managing APIs with Kong |
| Open source? | Not covered on the pages we checked |
| Pricing | AI Management Plus from $25/month plus usage; Enterprise custom |
What Kong offers for MCP
MCP in the AI Gateway
Kong's AI Gateway docs describe one gateway for model calls (LLM), MCP and agent-to-agent (A2A) traffic. The docs list an MCP quickstart to "expose and observe your first tool server over Model Context Protocol." They also list a scenario to "expose and govern tools from external Model Context Protocol servers."
Existing APIs as MCP tools
Many companies already run REST APIs through Kong. The docs say you can "turn existing APIs into tools an AI agent can discover and call over Model Context Protocol." Guides cover mapping a RESTful API to MCP tools and aggregating tools from several AI MCP Server entities. That means you may not need to build a new MCP server for each internal API.
Access and observability
The docs say you can "scope agent tool calls with OAuth2, so write actions can require tighter access than read actions." They also list "aggregated OpenTelemetry metrics for AI, MCP, and A2A traffic." OpenTelemetry is a common standard for sending usage and trace data to monitoring tools.
MCP Registry (tech preview)
Kong's MCP Registry docs define it as "a centralized publishing and discovery endpoint for MCP servers within your organization." It follows the open MCP Registry API spec. The page says the feature is "only available in tech preview" and that you must "contact Kong to have this feature enabled." Our explainer on the MCP Registry covers the public version.
Who it's for
Kong suits companies that already use it for API management and want MCP under the same rules, logs and team. A platform team can expose existing services to AI tools without a separate gateway product. Small teams without an API gateway may find simpler, MCP-only gateways easier to start with.
Pricing
Kong's pricing page listed AI Management on 28 October 2026:
| Plan | Price | Requests | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plus | From $25/month plus usage | 1 million a month included, then $200 per extra million, up to 10 million | 5 LLMs included, then $100 a month per model; 30-day free trial |
| Enterprise | Custom, billed annually | Customizable, with volume discounts | No model limits |
The Plus plan describes a "Unified AI Gateway for LLM, MCP, and A2A traffic." There is no MCP-only price, so MCP requests count toward the same request limits.
Security and trust
Kong's AI Gateway docs describe OAuth2 scoping for tool calls and OpenTelemetry metrics. The registry docs say "only authenticated clients with appropriate access tokens can query a registry." We did not check Kong's certifications for this article, so ask Kong for its current compliance reports. For what a gateway should log, see our MCP governance guide.
Alternatives
- Solo.io backs agentgateway, an open-source gateway for service, LLM and MCP traffic.
- IBM ContextForge also turns REST and gRPC services into MCP tools, under Apache 2.0.
- TrueFoundry offers an MCP gateway with per-user pricing and approval flows.
Browse more MCP company spotlights, or read MCP gateways explained for the basics.
Next step
If you already run Kong, start with the MCP quickstart in the AI Gateway docs and map one low-risk API. If you need help deciding which APIs to expose and how to scope them, our MCP development team can help plan it.
Frequently asked questions
Does Kong support MCP?
Yes. Kong's AI Gateway handles MCP traffic alongside LLM and A2A traffic. It can expose existing REST APIs as MCP tools and aggregate tools from several MCP servers.
How much does Kong's MCP support cost?
There is no separate MCP price. AI Management Plus starts from $25 a month plus usage, with 1 million requests included and $200 per extra million. Enterprise is custom.
What is the Kong MCP Registry?
It is a central place inside Konnect Catalog to publish and find your company's MCP servers. As of October 2026 it is in tech preview, and Kong must enable it for your organization.
Do I need to rewrite my APIs for MCP?
Not always. Kong's docs include guides to map a RESTful API to MCP tools, so an existing API can become a set of tools an agent can call.
