Kong Gateway Hosting Live In 5 Minutes

Kong Gateway hosting on xCloud gives you a self-hosted API gateway on your own domains. Deploy Kong Gateway and xCloud runs the open-source image beside a private PostgreSQL, puts Kong Manager and the Admin API behind a generated Basic Auth login, publishes a separate public gateway domain for your routes, serves both over HTTPS, and keeps all configuration in one database volume. Sign in to Kong Manager and add your first service and route.

Deploy your Kong Gateway

No terminal
No technical skills needed
No lock-in, cancel anytime

What is Kong Gateway?

Self-hosted Kong Gateway is an open-source, cloud-native API gateway known for high performance and extensibility through plugins. Upstream describes proxying, routing, load balancing, health checking and authentication as the central layer for orchestrating microservices or conventional API traffic. Kong Manager is its web UI, and the Admin API configures it. It is Apache-2.0 licensed, and this template uses the open-source image with no Enterprise features.

On xCloud the template runs kong/kong 3.9.4 beside postgres 16 and an nginx login gateway, all pinned by digest. You map two domains: one for Kong Manager, behind Basic Auth, and a public gateway domain that serves your routes. The open-source edition has no accounts or RBAC, so anyone with that login controls the gateway. Configuration lives in the kong_postgres_data volume.

From Sign-Up to a Live Kong Gateway Install In Just 3 Easy Steps

Self-hosting an API gateway normally means standing up Kong, a database, a login in front of the Admin API and two domains before a single route is live. This is the same result without assembling any of it.

Step 01
Sign Up
Create your xCloud account, pick Kong Gateway from the OneClick catalog, and choose a domain for Kong Manager and a domain for the Gateway (proxy). xCloud generates the credentials.
Step 02
We Deploy It For You
One click. We bring up Kong 3.9.4 with PostgreSQL and an nginx Basic Auth gateway, create the database schema on first start, and publish both domains over HTTPS.
Step 03
Sign In And Add A Route
Open the Kong Manager URL and sign in with the generated username admin and password from your installation credentials. Add a service and a route, then call it on the Gateway (proxy) domain.

An API Gateway With Web UI: Everything Kong Gateway Does

Kong runs in full here: routing, authentication and rate limiting through plugins, managed from Kong Manager or the Admin API, on infrastructure you control.

One Gateway In Front Of Your APIs
Route, authenticate and rate-limit traffic to your APIs and microservices through a single Kong Gateway.
Kong Manager Or The Admin API
Manage services, routes and plugins in the Kong Manager web UI, or script the same things through the Admin API.
Basic Auth Protects Kong Manager And The Admin API
The open-source edition has no accounts of its own, so a generated login gates both the UI and the Admin API.
A Separate Public Gateway Domain
The Gateway (proxy) domain serves your routes directly; protect individual routes with Kong plugins such as key-auth.
Wired Together At Install Time
Kong, PostgreSQL and the Basic Auth login are configured together automatically, with no manual setup.
Services And Routes Stored In PostgreSQL
Services, routes, plugins and consumers are stored in PostgreSQL and survive an xCloud Restart.

Everything You Need To Run Your API Gateway 24/7

Managed hosting for Kong Gateway, so the parts that keep it online are not your problem.

Kong Gateway 3.9.4 deployed instantly
PostgreSQL 16 and Kong Manager included
Generated Basic Auth login for Kong Manager
Separate public Gateway (proxy) domain
Free SSL certificate
Server backups and snapshots
Server security updates included
30+ server locations
Unused balance refunded

What You Can Do With Kong Gateway

Put one front door in front of your APIs
A platform team routes several backend services through one gateway domain, so clients call a single address while services stay private.
Add authentication and rate limits with plugins
An engineer protects a route with a plugin such as key-auth and limits traffic to it, instead of coding that into each service.
Manage routes in Kong Manager
An admin adds services and routes in the web UI, or scripts the Admin API with the same login, and tests them on the gateway domain.
Run your own gateway beside your apps
A developer keeps the gateway and its PostgreSQL database on a Cloud VPS they control, next to the other apps they already deploy.

Kong Gateway vs Alternatives

Apache APISIX: Apache APISIX is another open-source API gateway. Kong Gateway vs Apache APISIX is a choice of project; Kong lists plugins, Kong Manager and an Admin API backed by PostgreSQL.
Tyk: Tyk is an API gateway with its own commercial and open-source offerings. Kong Gateway here is the Apache-2.0 open-source image, run on a server you control.
Traefik: Traefik is a reverse proxy and ingress tool. Kong Gateway is an API gateway whose authentication and rate-limiting plugins are managed through Kong Manager or the Admin API.
Hosted API gateways: A cloud gateway keeps your routes and traffic on a provider's platform. Kong Gateway runs on your own Cloud VPS, with the configuration in a PostgreSQL volume you can back up.

Simple Pricing. Everything Included.

Dedicated Cloud VPS sizes, pre-configured for Kong Gateway hosting. Pick the one that fits, and resize any time.

Cloud VPS 6 GB

Cloud VPS 16 GB

More services, routes and plugins behind the gateway.

$59.99per month

16 GB RAM
6 vCPU cores
200 GB NVMe SSD
30 TB
Unlimited

Get started

Cloud VPS 24 GB

Kong alongside a whole self-hosted API stack.

$84.99per month

24 GB RAM
8 vCPU cores
300 GB NVMe SSD
30 TB
Unlimited

Get started

Every size is a dedicated Cloud VPS we provision, patch, monitor and restore. Billed monthly with no lock-in — delete the server and the unused balance comes back to your account. Kong Gateway itself is licensed under Apache License 2.0.

Docker hosting

Already Have a Server? Bring Your Own

Connect any VPS — DigitalOcean, Vultr, Linode, AWS, Hetzner or bare metal — and deploy Kong Gateway on it through the same panel, for a per-server management fee instead of a Cloud VPS rental.

Free

Start your journey without cost.

$0forever

1 server
10 sites

Start free

Starter

Professional

The same platform, discounted at 6–10 servers.

$4per server / month

6–10 servers
Unlimited sites
All features included
Bring any VPS provider

Get started

Agency

The same platform, discounted at 11+ servers.

$3per server / month

11+ servers
Unlimited sites
All features included
Bring any VPS provider

Get started

Priced per connected server, so your rate adjusts automatically as you add or remove servers. You pay your own provider for the server itself.

Self-managed hosting

Ready To Own Your API Gateway?

Kong Gateway on xCloud runs on a dedicated Cloud VPS that we provision, patch, monitor and restore. Deploy faster. Own the server. Stay in control.

Fast Provisioning
Deploy faster using an xCloud Managed Server built with optimized stacks and high-speed SSDs.
Enterprise-grade security
Protect your infrastructure with a free SSL certificate and more advanced security features at no additional cost.
Intuitive Control Panel
From Server creation to application deployment, everything can be managed from our intuitive control panel.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Feel free to contact us with any questions or concerns you may have.

Is Kong Gateway free and open source?

Yes. Kong Gateway is Apache-2.0 licensed, and this template runs the open-source image with no Enterprise features. PostgreSQL has its own licence. xCloud bills the dedicated Cloud VPS for the whole stack, not the gateway software.

Can I run Kong Gateway with Docker?

Yes, and this template is Kong Gateway Docker hosting without the assembly. It starts kong/kong 3.9.4 beside postgres 16 and an nginx login gateway, all pinned by digest, bootstraps the database on first start and keeps data on the kong_postgres_data volume.

How much RAM does Kong Gateway need?

The manifest asks for 512 MB of RAM, one core and 5 GB of disk for the gateway, PostgreSQL and login proxy. The 6 GB Cloud VPS sold here suits a Kong Gateway cloud install. Traffic, plugins and route count decide what a busy gateway needs.

What does an API gateway do?

Upstream describes Kong as the central layer for microservices or conventional API traffic, handling proxying, routing, load balancing, health checking and authentication. Plugins add behaviour such as authentication, rate limiting and logging. Your clients call the gateway, and it forwards to your services.

How do I add a route to Kong?

Sign in to Kong Manager, add a service pointing at your backend, then add a route that matches requests. Call the route on the gateway domain. Until you add a route, that domain answers 404 saying no route matched, which is normal.

Is the Kong Admin API protected?

Yes, by the template, not by Kong. The open-source edition has no accounts, so an nginx gateway requires Basic Auth on Kong Manager and the Admin API. Scripts use the same login. Ports 8001 and 8002 are never published, and anyone with the login controls the gateway.

Is the Kong gateway domain public?

Yes, by design. The gateway domain serves whatever routes you add and has no login, so anything you route is reachable by anyone. Protect each route with Kong's own plugins, for example key-auth, before you point real traffic at it.

How do I back up Kong Gateway?

All configuration lives in PostgreSQL on the kong_postgres_data volume. Take a pg_dump from the database container, or snapshot the volume while the stack is stopped. To restore, stop Kong, load the dump into an empty database, and start Kong again.

Backup and Restore Docker Apps

How do I update Kong Gateway?

Your install stays on its pinned 3.9.4 version until you adopt a newer template version. Back up the database first and read the Kong release notes. A version that adds migrations needs the migration commands run by hand, because the startup only bootstraps a fresh database.

Can I cancel anytime?

Yes. There is no lock-in — cancel any time. Hosting is billed monthly and charged for what you actually use, so when you delete the server the unused balance is refunded to your account, less up to 10% in payment-processing fees.