Kong Named a Leader in API Management Software, Q3 2026 Report by Independent Research Firm

The company is recognized for its AI governance capabilities and vision for expanding API management into an AI control plane

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 9, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Kong Inc., the AI Connectivity Company, today announced that it has been named a Leader in The Forrester Wave™: API Management Software, Q3 2026. The report evaluates API management software providers based on their current offering, strategy, and customer feedback.

APIs have always been the connective layer between applications, services, and data. With the introduction of AI agents, connectivity is expanding, and so are the requirements for managing and governing it. To that end, the Forrester report describes Kong's vision as one built "to expand API management into an AI control plane while recognizing that this requires supporting broad protocols, event-driven architecture, gateway modernization, and alignment with executive business strategy."

"We're proud to be recognized by Forrester as a Leader in API Management, particularly at a moment when the role of connectivity is expanding from APIs and events to LLMs and agent calls," said Augusto Marietti, CEO and Co-Founder, Kong Inc. "AI agents are becoming a new class of API consumer, and enterprises need infrastructure that can apply the same security, governance, and cost control they expect from APIs across models, tools, and agents. We're helping customers to meet that shift."

Kong is also recognized in the area of AI governance with the report noting that Kong "well suits modern cloud-native use cases with an emphasis on AI governance," and that the Kong AI Gateway has "more policies for LLM governance than any other vendor in this evaluation…."

Recent investments cited in the Forrester evaluation include:

• AI usage and monetization: Following Kong's acquisition of OpenMeter, Forrester noted that Kong offers "highly customizable analytics and monetization capabilities, including cost chargeback reports for LLM tokens." These capabilities provide token cost management, helping organizations measure usage and manage the economics of AI workloads as they scale.
• Enterprise ecosystem: Forrester noted that "GSI partners indicate growing demand for Kong implementations," which Kong believes reflects increasing demand for the platform as enterprises modernize their API and AI infrastructure.
• Customer experience: According to the report, "Kong's customers say its customer support and gateway performance stand out."

The recognition comes on the heels of Kong's recent general availability launch of Kong AI Gateway 2.0, which now ships with a production-ready runtime, control plane, and Kong Konnect experience. New capabilities include unified MCP tool governance, modality-aware cost management, identity-aware AI policies, and expanded provider support.

Forrester Objectivity Statement

Forrester does not endorse any company, product, brand, or service included in its research publications and does not advise any person to select the products or services of any company or brand based on the ratings included in such publications. Information is based on the best available resources. Opinions reflect judgment at the time and are subject to change. This report is part of a broader collection of Forrester resources, including interactive models, frameworks, tools, data, and access to analyst guidance. For more information, read about Forrester's objectivity here.

About Kong Inc.
Kong Inc., the AI Connectivity Company, is building the connectivity layer of AI. Trusted by the Fortune 500® and AI-native startups alike, Kong's unified API and AI platform enables organizations to secure, manage, accelerate, govern, and monetize the flow of intelligence across APIs and AI traffic — on any model, any cloud. For more information, visit www.konghq.com.

SOURCE Kong Inc.