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Edge & networking
API gateway
Single entry point that authenticates, rate-limits and routes API calls to backend services.
When to use
- Microservice backends
- Public APIs that need keys, quotas or versioning
Pitfalls
- Can become a bottleneck or a dumping ground for business logic
Options by provider
The first option is what diagrams show for that provider.
Amazon Web Services
- Amazon API GatewayManaged
Google Cloud
- ApigeeManaged
- API GatewayManaged
Microsoft Azure
- Azure API ManagementManaged
Open source / self-hosted
- KongSelf-hosted
- Apache APISIXSelf-hosted
- KrakenDSelf-hosted
Related concepts
Used in
- YouTube
- API gateway — Authenticates users, rate-limits and routes to services
- Netflix
- API gateway (Zuul) — Edge routing, authentication and rate limiting
- Instagram
- API gateway — Auth tokens, rate limits, routing
- Twitter / X
- API gateway — Auth, rate limiting, routing
- Uber
- API gateway — Auth, rate limiting and routing for HTTPS calls
- Amazon
- API gateway — Auth, rate limiting, routing
- Payment gateway
- Public API — API-key auth, rate limits, request validation
- API rate limiter
- API gateway — Enforcement point: asks the limiter, returns 429 or forwards
- Search autocomplete
- API gateway — Routing and rate limiting
- Google Maps
- API gateway — Auth, quotas and routing
- BookMyShow
- API gateway — Auth, rate limiting, routing
- MakeMyTrip
- API gateway — Auth, rate limits, routing
- Airline reservations
- API gateway — Auth, rate limits, routing
- Airbnb
- API gateway — Auth, rate limits, routing
- NoBroker
- API gateway — Auth, rate limits
- Meeting scheduler
- API gateway — Auth and routing
- Car rental
- API gateway — Auth and routing
- Zomato / food delivery
- API gateway — Auth, rate limits, routing
- Urban Company
- API gateway — Auth and routing
- Porter / goods delivery
- API gateway — Auth, routing
- Driver booking & fleet management
- API gateway — Auth, roles, routing
- Practo / teleconsultation
- API gateway — Auth, roles, audit logging
- AstroTalk
- API gateway — Auth and routing
- Quora
- API gateway — Auth, rate limits
- LinkedIn
- API gateway — Auth and routing
- Buy now, pay later
- API gateway — Merchant and user auth, rate limits
- Stock brokerage
- API gateway — Auth, sessions, rate limits