Apache APISIX vs Spring Cloud Gateway

Apache APISIX—Visit Spring Cloud Gateway—Visit

Apache APISIX #3 in API Gateway Software —/10 Free plan Free plan✓ 2 of 2 features Visit Apache APISIX

vs

Spring Cloud Gateway #5 in API Gateway Software —/10 Free plan Free plan✓ 2 of 2 features Visit Spring Cloud

• Apache APISIX fits best

  Open-source teams wanting broad protocol support

• Spring Cloud Gateway fits best

  Spring-based application teams

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Side by side

Feature	Apache APISIX —/10 Visit ↗	Spring Cloud Gateway —/10 Visit ↗
At a glance
Editor score	—	—
Ranking	#3 in API Gateway Software	#5 in API Gateway Software
Best for	Open-source teams wanting broad protocol support	Spring-based application teams
Pricing model	Free	Free
Starting price	Not published	Not published
Free plan	✓	✓
Free trial	—	—
Deployment	Self-hosted	Self-hosted
Support	Community, Docs	Docs, Community
Integrations	5 integrations	4 integrations
Built for	Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise	Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise
Features Apache APISIX 2/2 · Spring Cloud Gateway 2/2
Rate limiting	✓	✓
Request transformation	✓	✓
Specs
Deployment model	Self-hosted	Self-hosted
Supported protocols	HTTP, HTTPS, TCP, UDP, WebSocket, gRPC, MQTT, HTTP/3, Dubbo	HTTP, HTTPS, WebSocket, gRPC
Authentication methods	API key, JWT, Basic Authentication, OAuth 2.0/OpenID Connect, HMAC, LDAP, CAS, Keycloak, Casdoor, forward authentication, multi-auth	Spring Security, OAuth 2.0, JWT, opaque tokens
Monthly request limit	Not published	Not published
Our review
Pros	Supports HTTP, TCP, UDP, WebSocket, gRPC, MQTT, HTTP/3, and Dubbo Includes routing, load balancing, authentication, rate limiting, and transformations Offers Kubernetes integration, a dashboard, and 100+ gateway and AI plugins	Dynamic routing with route-specific predicates and filters Rate limiting, rewrites, transformations, and circuit breaker integration Supports HTTP, HTTPS, WebSocket, and gRPC conversion
Cons	Deployment is self-hosted rather than vendor-hosted Linux is the listed operating-system platform Its broad configuration and plugin surface may require dedicated technical ownership	Requires self-hosted deployment and operational ownership Delivered as a library rather than a hosted gateway service Best suited to teams already working within the Spring ecosystem
Our verdict	Apache APISIX is an open-source API and AI gateway for teams operating APIs, microservices, and multi-protocol traffic in cloud-native environments. It is designed for self-hosted deployment on Linux and supports traditional, decoupled,… Read the review →	Spring Cloud Gateway is an open-source library for building API gateways on Spring. It routes requests to backend services while adding capabilities such as security integration, monitoring, resiliency, rate limiting, path rewriting,… Read the review →

Strengths and trade-offs

• Apache APISIX — where it wins

  • Supports HTTP, TCP, UDP, WebSocket, gRPC, MQTT, HTTP/3, and Dubbo
  • Includes routing, load balancing, authentication, rate limiting, and transformations
  • Offers Kubernetes integration, a dashboard, and 100+ gateway and AI plugins

  Where it doesn't

  • Deployment is self-hosted rather than vendor-hosted
  • Linux is the listed operating-system platform
  • Its broad configuration and plugin surface may require dedicated technical ownership

• Spring Cloud Gateway — where it wins

  • Dynamic routing with route-specific predicates and filters
  • Rate limiting, rewrites, transformations, and circuit breaker integration
  • Supports HTTP, HTTPS, WebSocket, and gRPC conversion

  Where it doesn't

  • Requires self-hosted deployment and operational ownership
  • Delivered as a library rather than a hosted gateway service
  • Best suited to teams already working within the Spring ecosystem

• Apache APISIX—/10 · Free plan

  A self-hosted gateway for teams needing broad protocol support and extensible traffic controls.

  Visit Apache APISIXFull verdict →
• Spring Cloud Gateway—/10 · Free plan

  A flexible, self-hosted gateway for teams building on Spring.

  Visit Spring CloudFull verdict →