Question 1

Do I actually need an API gateway, or is a reverse proxy enough?

Accepted Answer

If you run one or two APIs with a single consumer, a reverse proxy like NGINX is usually enough. A gateway pays off once you have multiple APIs, external consumers, or per-client policies — API keys, quotas, usage analytics, monetization. The honest answer depends on your API count and consumer diversity, and we will tell you if you do not need one yet.

Question 2

How much latency does a gateway add?

Accepted Answer

A well-configured gateway typically adds 1–10 milliseconds per request; Envoy and Kong sit at the low end of that range. Most of the overhead comes from misconfigured plugins or synchronous calls to external auth services, which we avoid by caching token validation results at the edge.

Question 3

Managed (AWS API Gateway) or self-hosted (Kong, Envoy) — which is better?

Accepted Answer

Managed gateways remove operational burden but charge per million requests, which gets expensive at high volume — AWS API Gateway can cost more than the compute behind it past a few hundred million requests monthly. Self-hosted Kong or Envoy has a flat infrastructure cost and more plugin flexibility, but you own upgrades and scaling. We model both against your projected traffic before recommending.

Question 4

Can the gateway handle authentication for all my services?

Accepted Answer

Yes — that is one of its main jobs. The gateway validates JWTs, performs OAuth 2.0 token introspection, or checks API keys at the edge, then forwards verified identity claims as headers to your backends. Your services stop carrying their own auth middleware, which removes an entire class of inconsistency bugs.

Question 5

How do you migrate existing APIs behind a gateway without downtime?

Accepted Answer

We run the gateway in parallel with your current entry points and shift traffic incrementally — typically starting at 5–10% per route with instant rollback available. Consumers keep using the same URLs because DNS or the load balancer handles the switch. A full migration of 20–30 APIs usually takes 3–6 weeks.

Question 6

What is the difference between an API gateway and a service mesh?

Accepted Answer

A gateway manages north-south traffic — requests entering your system from outside — while a service mesh like Istio manages east-west traffic between internal services. They complement rather than replace each other; many teams need only the gateway, and adding a mesh prematurely is a common source of unnecessary complexity.

Question 7

Can a gateway help with API versioning?

Accepted Answer

Significantly. The gateway can route /v1 and /v2 to different backends, translate old request formats to new ones so legacy clients keep working, and run canary releases that send a small percentage of traffic to a new version. This lets you deprecate versions on a schedule backed by real usage data from gateway analytics.

Question 8

What does an API gateway project cost and how long does it take?

Accepted Answer

A focused implementation for a handful of APIs typically takes 3–5 weeks; enterprise rollouts with custom plugins, a developer portal, and dozens of services run 2–4 months. Ongoing cost depends heavily on the managed-versus-self-hosted decision, which is why we include a 12-month total-cost projection in the platform recommendation.

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