API Gateway VPS — Kong + Traefik — No Per-Request Billing

API Gateway VPS — Self-Hosted Kong
at Flat Monthly Cost

Deploy Kong CE, Traefik, or Nginx as a self-hosted API gateway. Rate limiting, JWT authentication, SSL termination, and request routing — no AWS API Gateway per-million-request billing.

Deploy Now — From $5/mo View All Plans
Kong CE
Free License
$0
Per Request
Unlimited
API Calls
$7
Starting /mo
AMD Ryzen CPU
DDR5 RAM
NVMe SSD Storage
10 Gbps Network
DDoS Protected
35+ Locations

Why Self-Host an API Gateway on VPS?

AWS API Gateway charges $3.50/million requests. 100M requests/month = $350/mo just for gateway. Kong CE on a $7/mo VPS handles billions of requests at flat monthly cost with full routing and auth control.

No Per-Request Billing

AWS API Gateway: $3.50/1M requests = $350/mo at 100M req. Kong CE on a $7/mo VPS: unlimited requests at flat cost. The savings fund multiple engineering salaries.

Full Request Routing

Route by path, header, host, or method. Weighted routing for A/B testing. Canary deployments sending 10% traffic to new version. Full routing logic without custom Lambda authorizers.

Auth + Rate Limiting Plugins

JWT auth, API key auth, OAuth 2.0, rate limiting per consumer, IP restriction, and request transformation — enterprise API gateway features at flat VPS cost.

Centralized SSL Termination

Let's Encrypt for all API domains at the gateway. Backend services communicate over HTTP internally — simplified certificate management for microservices.

The Full Stack

Everything you need — installed and configured on your VPS in minutes.

Kong CEEnterprise API gateway
TraefikDynamic service proxy
NginxHigh-performance proxy
Kong pluginsAuth + rate limiting
PostgreSQLKong config store
Let's EncryptCentralized SSL
Kong Admin APIGateway management
Docker ComposeDeployment

Deploy in Minutes

SSH in and follow these commands. Your stack will be live in under 10 minutes.

root@vps:~
# Deploy Kong CE API Gateway with Docker Compose
[root@vps ~]# curl -fsSL https://get.docker.com | sh
[root@vps ~]# docker compose up -d kong kong-db && docker compose run --rm kong kong migrations bootstrap
[OK] Kong :8000 (proxy) | :8001 (Admin API)

# Register a service + route + rate limiting
[root@vps ~]# curl -X POST :8001/services -d name=myapi -d url=http://backend:4000
[root@vps ~]# curl -X POST :8001/services/myapi/routes -d "paths[]=/api"
[root@vps ~]# curl -X POST :8001/services/myapi/plugins -d name=rate-limiting -d config.minute=100
[OK] /api → backend:4000 — rate limited 100 req/min
[root@vps ~]#

Why Host4Fun VPS?

AMD Ryzen CPUs, DDR5 RAM, NVMe SSD, and 10 Gbps network — the infrastructure your workload deserves.

Kong CE — Enterprise Gateway Free

Service/route management, rate limiting, JWT/API key/OAuth auth, request transformation, IP restriction, CORS — enterprise API gateway features at no per-request cost.

Flat vs Per-Request Billing

AWS API Gateway: $3.50/1M + $0.09/GB. Kong on $7/mo VPS: unlimited calls, unlimited GB — the gateway cost becomes negligible and completely predictable.

Traefik Auto-Discovery

Traefik reads Docker labels and configures routing automatically. Deploy a new microservice container — Traefik routes traffic immediately with Let's Encrypt SSL provisioned in seconds.

Per-Consumer Rate Limiting

Kong limits per API key, per IP, or globally. Free tier: 100/min, Pro tier: 1000/min, Enterprise: unlimited. Different limits per consumer — no WAF or Shield additional costs.

Request/Response Transform

Kong request-transformer adds headers and rewrites paths. Response-transformer strips sensitive headers. Decouple client contracts from backend implementation.

Centralized SSL

One Let's Encrypt certificate per API domain at the gateway. Backend services HTTP-only on internal Docker network. One renewal covers all services.

How We Compare

See how Host4Fun Cloud VPS stacks up against the alternatives.

FeatureHost4Fun VPSAWS API GatewayApigeeAzure APIM
Per-Request Cost Flat $7/mo $3.50/1M $0.03/1K $0.035/1K
Rate Limiting
JWT Auth
Monthly Cost (100M req)$7/mo flat$350+/mo$3,000+$3,500+

Use Cases

What developers and teams are building.

Microservices Gateway

Route external requests to internal microservices. Centralized auth, rate limiting, and SSL for all services — no per-service implementation.

B2B API Management

Kong consumer management for B2B API keys. Per-customer rate limits, usage tracking, and access policies.

Canary Deployments

Route 90% to stable, 10% to new version. Gradually shift traffic as confidence grows — gateway-level traffic splitting.

AWS Gateway Migration

$500-5000/mo AWS API Gateway → Kong CE on VPS. Same features, 98%+ cost reduction.

API Gateway Learning

Learn routing, auth, rate limiting, and observability patterns on real Kong or Traefik.

Security Layer

JWT validation, API keys, IP allowlisting at gateway — before requests reach backend services.

Simple Pricing

All plans include AMD Ryzen CPU, DDR5 RAM, NVMe SSD, DDoS protection, and free SSL. No hidden fees.

Monthly
Yearly Save up to 40%

Starter

$5/mo
  • 1 vCPU
  • 1 GB DDR5
  • 15 GB NVMe NVMe SSD
  • 1 TB Bandwidth
Get Starter

Basic

Recommended for API Gateway
$7/mo
Gateway optimal — high throughput + plugins
  • 2 vCPU
  • 2 GB DDR5
  • 30 GB NVMe NVMe SSD
  • 4 TB Bandwidth
Get Basic

Professional ★

$14/mo
  • 4 vCPU
  • 4 GB DDR5
  • 60 GB NVMe NVMe SSD
  • 8 TB Bandwidth
Get Professional

Business

$28/mo
  • 6 vCPU
  • 8 GB DDR5
  • 120 GB NVMe NVMe SSD
  • 16 TB Bandwidth
Get Business

35+ Global Locations

Deploy close to your users for the lowest possible latency.

USA & Canada (15)

Atlanta • New York • Los Angeles • Miami • Dallas • Chicago • Seattle • San Jose • Ashburn • Phoenix • Las Vegas • North Carolina • Oregon • Utah • Canada

Europe (10)

Frankfurt • London • Paris • Amsterdam • Warsaw • Oslo • Helsinki • Madrid • Milan • Bucharest

Asia-Pacific (4)

Singapore • Tokyo • Johor (Malaysia) • Sydney

Frequently Asked Questions

Kong vs Traefik vs Nginx?

Kong: richest plugin ecosystem, consumer management — best for enterprise API management. Traefik: auto-discovers Docker containers, built-in Let's Encrypt — best for microservices. Nginx: highest performance, most flexible config — best for custom routing.

What plan for API Gateway?

Basic ($7/mo, 2 GB DDR5) handles Kong CE + PostgreSQL for moderate traffic. Professional ($14/mo, 4 vCPU) for high-throughput gateways with many plugins.

How does Kong rate limiting work?

Configure the rate-limiting plugin on a service or route. Set limits per minute/hour/day. Applies per consumer or per IP. Requests over limit receive 429. Redis backend for distributed rate limit state.

Kong CE vs Kong Enterprise?

Kong CE is open source (Apache 2.0) and fully production-ready. Enterprise adds: RBAC UI, advanced analytics, and commercial support. CE covers 95%+ of use cases.

How to migrate from AWS API Gateway?

Export API Gateway routes and authorizers. Convert to Kong services/routes and JWT plugins. Apply via Kong's declarative config (deck). Test on VPS, then switch DNS.

Is Kong CE production-ready?

Yes — used by thousands of companies in production. Fully featured for routing, auth, and rate limiting without Enterprise license.

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Deploy Your API Gateway VPS Today

Kong CE. Rate limiting. JWT auth. No per-request billing. From $7/mo.

Deploy Now — From $5/mo