Suggestions appear as you type. Use the up and down arrows to choose one and Enter to open it.

This page's audience our own tag's counts — open to see them
–Visits
–Page views
–Clicks to vendors
–Time on page
–Reading now
Clicks to vendors, by tool
  • –
Top countries
  • –
Devices
  • –

– · visits, page views and clicks counted by our own tag, which counts more than our checked analytics; every figure rounded down · how we count

Head-to-head · Tool Calling

Dify vs Kong AI Gateway

  • Updated Oct 2026
  • Both researched from official sources
  • 1 check side by side
Higher score Dify #4 in Tool Calling 8.2/10 Free plan Free plan✓ 0 of 3 features Visit Dify
Kong AI Gateway #5 in Tool Calling 8.1/10 30-day trial Free trial✓ 0 of 3 features Visit Kong

Dify leads on 1 check, Kong AI Gateway on 0, and 0 are even. Who comes out ahead on the 1 yes/no, price and count check where we have data for both products. The editor score weighs everything else too.

Our verdict

  • Highest scoreDify · 8.2/10
  • Free planonly Dify
  • Free trialonly Kong AI Gateway

Dify scores higher on our rubric for tool calling: 8.2 against 8.1 out of 10; our editors rank them #4 and #5.

Dify offers free plan; Kong AI Gateway doesn't.

Dify is the better fit for teams building visual agents with MCP-compatible tools. Kong AI Gateway is the better fit for enterprises governing AI, MCP, and A2A traffic.

  • Dify fits best

    Teams building visual agents with MCP-compatible tools

  • Kong AI Gateway fits best

    Enterprises governing AI, MCP, and A2A traffic

Advertiser disclosure: iTechGuides is reader-supported. Vendors can pay for top positions in our rankings and for a place on other products' pages, and we may earn a commission when you click some links. Bought places stand at the number bought; this page and our disclosure say so. Paying vendors may get a fuller, more detailed review from our editors, and that review can change their score. How we rank.

Side by side

Feature Dify 8.2/10 Visit ↗ Kong AI Gateway 8.1/10 Visit ↗
At a glance
Editor score 8.2 8.1
Ranking #4 in Tool Calling #5 in Tool Calling
Best for Teams building visual agents with MCP-compatible tools Enterprises governing AI, MCP, and A2A traffic
Pricing model Free plan + paid Paid
Starting price — —
Free plan ✓ (best) —
Free trial — 30 days
Deployment Cloud, Self-hosted Cloud, Self-hosted
Platforms Web Web
Support Email, Community, Docs Email, Tickets
Integrations 260+ integrations 14 integrations
Built for Solo, Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise
Features Dify 0/3 · Kong AI Gateway 0/3
Parallel tool calls Not checked yet Not checked yet
Structured outputs Not checked yet Not checked yet
Call observability Not checked yet Not checked yet
Specs
Protocol support Not checked yet Not checked yet
Deployment Not checked yet Not checked yet
Tool-choice control Not checked yet Not checked yet
Authentication methods Not checked yet Not checked yet
Our review
Pros
  • Visual workflows combine tool, code, branching, and iteration nodes.
  • Workflows can be published as web apps, APIs, and MCP-compatible tools.
  • Cloud and self-hosted deployment options, plus a free plan.
  • Routes and load-balances requests across multiple LLM providers.
  • Supports LLM, MCP, and A2A traffic with access and governance controls.
  • Tracks token use, cost, latency, and errors with spend controls.
Cons
  • Tool calling sits within a broader AI application and workflow platform.
  • Sandbox is limited to 200 message credits and one team member.
  • Voice agents depend on Marketplace extensions.
  • There is no perpetual free plan; the $0 offer lasts 30 days.
  • Fully self-hosted API gateways are listed as an Enterprise feature.
  • Support channels are email and ticket.
Our verdict

Dify is an open-source platform for building AI applications, agent workflows, and RAG-powered systems. Its visual canvas brings together model calls, knowledge retrieval, tools, code, branching, triggers, iteration, and human review.…

Read the review →

Kong AI Gateway gives platform and infrastructure teams a gateway for managing traffic among applications, agents, MCP servers, and large language model providers. Its tool-calling relevance comes from support for MCP and A2A traffic…

Read the review →
  1. DifyTool Calling 8.2Free plan
  2. Kong AI GatewayTool Calling 8.130-day trial

Strengths and trade-offs

  • Dify — where it wins

    • Visual workflows combine tool, code, branching, and iteration nodes.
    • Workflows can be published as web apps, APIs, and MCP-compatible tools.
    • Cloud and self-hosted deployment options, plus a free plan.

    Where it doesn't

    • Tool calling sits within a broader AI application and workflow platform.
    • Sandbox is limited to 200 message credits and one team member.
    • Voice agents depend on Marketplace extensions.

  • Kong AI Gateway — where it wins

    • Routes and load-balances requests across multiple LLM providers.
    • Supports LLM, MCP, and A2A traffic with access and governance controls.
    • Tracks token use, cost, latency, and errors with spend controls.

    Where it doesn't

    • There is no perpetual free plan; the $0 offer lasts 30 days.
    • Fully self-hosted API gateways are listed as an Enterprise feature.
    • Support channels are email and ticket.
  • Dify8.2/10 · Free plan

    A visual agent builder with MCP-compatible tools, self-hosting, and a free plan.

    Visit DifyFull verdict →
  • Kong AI Gateway8.1/10 · 30-day trial

    A gateway for governing AI and tool traffic across models, with routing and spend controls.

    Visit KongFull verdict →

More comparisons

All tool calling comparisons → · Full ranking →

Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026

Last updated · How we research and update