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membphis/Apache APISIX vs KONG

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Apache APISIX vs KONG
Apache apisix benchmark script: https://github.com/iresty/apisix/blob/master/benchmark/run.sh
Kong beanchmark script:
curl -i -X POST \
--url http://localhost:8001/services/ \
--data 'name=example-service' \
--data 'host=127.0.0.1'
curl -i -X POST \
--url http://localhost:8001/services/example-service/routes \
--data 'paths[]=/hello'
curl -i -X POST http://localhost:8001/routes/efd9d857-39bf-4154-85ec-edb7c1f53856/plugins \
--data "name=rate-limiting" \
--data "config.hour=999999999999" \
--data "config.policy=local"
curl -i -X POST http://localhost:8001/routes/efd9d857-39bf-4154-85ec-edb7c1f53856/plugins \
--data "name=prometheus"
curl -i http://127.0.0.1:8000/hello/hello
wrk -d 5 -c 16 http://127.0.0.1:8000/hello/hello
@membphis
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membphis commented Jun 24, 2020

Here is my result:

platform: aliyun cloud, 8 vCPU 32 GiB ecs.hfg5.2xlarge
apisix version: apache/apisix@492fa71

# 1 worker

apisix: 1 worker + 1 upstream + no plugin
+ curl http://127.0.0.1:9080/apisix/admin/routes/1 -H 'X-API-KEY: edd1c9f034335f136f87ad84b625c8f1' -X PUT -d '
{
    "uri": "/hello",
    "plugins": {
    },
    "upstream": {
        "type": "roundrobin",
        "nodes": {
            "127.0.0.1:80": 1
        }
    }
}'
{"node":{"value":{"priority":0,"plugins":{},"upstream":{"nodes":{"127.0.0.1:80":1},"hash_on":"vars","type":"roundrobin"},"id":"1","uri":"\/hello"},"createdIndex":6,"key":"\/apisix\/routes\/1","modifiedIndex":6},"prevNode":{"value":"{\"priority\":0,\"plugins\":{\"limit-count\":{\"time_window\":60,\"count\":2000000000000,\"rejected_code\":503,\"key\":\"remote_addr\",\"policy\":\"local\"},\"prometheus\":{}},\"upstream\":{\"hash_on\":\"vars\",\"nodes\":{\"127.0.0.1:80\":1},\"type\":\"roundrobin\"},\"id\":\"1\",\"uri\":\"\\\/hello\"}","createdIndex":5,"key":"\/apisix\/routes\/1","modifiedIndex":5},"action":"set"}
+ sleep 1
+ wrk -d 5 -c 16 http://127.0.0.1:9080/hello
Running 5s test @ http://127.0.0.1:9080/hello
  2 threads and 16 connections
  Thread Stats   Avg      Stdev     Max   +/- Stdev
    Latency   692.12us  117.12us   4.72ms   89.93%
    Req/Sec    11.60k   350.91    12.10k    85.29%
  117717 requests in 5.10s, 470.15MB read
Requests/sec:  23082.99
Transfer/sec:     92.19MB
+ sleep 1
+ wrk -d 5 -c 16 http://127.0.0.1:9080/hello
Running 5s test @ http://127.0.0.1:9080/hello
  2 threads and 16 connections
  Thread Stats   Avg      Stdev     Max   +/- Stdev
    Latency   681.95us   96.32us   2.60ms   89.34%
    Req/Sec    11.76k   138.81    12.07k    73.53%
  119368 requests in 5.10s, 476.75MB read
Requests/sec:  23407.17
Transfer/sec:     93.49MB
+ sleep 1
+ echo -e '\n\napisix: 1 worker + 1 upstream + 2 plugins (limit-count + prometheus)'


apisix: 1 worker + 1 upstream + 2 plugins (limit-count + prometheus)
+ curl http://127.0.0.1:9080/apisix/admin/routes/1 -H 'X-API-KEY: edd1c9f034335f136f87ad84b625c8f1' -X PUT -d '
{
    "uri": "/hello",
    "plugins": {
        "limit-count": {
            "count": 2000000000000,
            "time_window": 60,
            "rejected_code": 503,
            "key": "remote_addr"
        },
        "prometheus": {}
    },
    "upstream": {
        "type": "roundrobin",
        "nodes": {
            "127.0.0.1:80": 1
        }
    }
}'
{"node":{"value":{"priority":0,"plugins":{"limit-count":{"time_window":60,"count":2000000000000,"rejected_code":503,"key":"remote_addr","policy":"local"},"prometheus":{}},"upstream":{"nodes":{"127.0.0.1:80":1},"hash_on":"vars","type":"roundrobin"},"id":"1","uri":"\/hello"},"createdIndex":7,"key":"\/apisix\/routes\/1","modifiedIndex":7},"prevNode":{"value":"{\"priority\":0,\"plugins\":{},\"upstream\":{\"hash_on\":\"vars\",\"nodes\":{\"127.0.0.1:80\":1},\"type\":\"roundrobin\"},\"id\":\"1\",\"uri\":\"\\\/hello\"}","createdIndex":6,"key":"\/apisix\/routes\/1","modifiedIndex":6},"action":"set"}
+ sleep 3
+ wrk -d 5 -c 16 http://127.0.0.1:9080/hello
Running 5s test @ http://127.0.0.1:9080/hello
  2 threads and 16 connections
  Thread Stats   Avg      Stdev     Max   +/- Stdev
    Latency     0.86ms  162.46us   7.24ms   88.76%
    Req/Sec     9.33k     1.17k   19.40k    93.07%
  93769 requests in 5.10s, 380.95MB read
Requests/sec:  18389.21
Transfer/sec:     74.71MB
+ sleep 1
+ wrk -d 5 -c 16 http://127.0.0.1:9080/hello
Running 5s test @ http://127.0.0.1:9080/hello
  2 threads and 16 connections
  Thread Stats   Avg      Stdev     Max   +/- Stdev
    Latency   845.31us  144.46us   4.37ms   91.35%
    Req/Sec     9.50k   281.09     9.81k    90.20%
  96473 requests in 5.10s, 391.94MB read
Requests/sec:  18916.99
Transfer/sec:     76.85MB
+ sleep 1
+ make stop
/bin/openresty -p $PWD/ -c $PWD/conf/nginx.conf -s stop
+ echo -e '\n\nfake empty apisix server: 1 worker'


fake empty apisix server: 1 worker
+ sleep 1
+ sed -i 's/worker_processes [0-9]*/worker_processes 1/g' benchmark/fake-apisix/conf/nginx.conf
+ sudo openresty -p /home/wangys/incubator-apisix-master/benchmark/fake-apisix
+ sleep 1
+ wrk -d 5 -c 16 http://127.0.0.1:9080/hello
Running 5s test @ http://127.0.0.1:9080/hello
  2 threads and 16 connections
  Thread Stats   Avg      Stdev     Max   +/- Stdev
    Latency   498.02us   57.61us   2.61ms   89.51%
    Req/Sec    16.09k   619.64    16.87k    85.29%
  163367 requests in 5.10s, 650.14MB read
Requests/sec:  32033.32
Transfer/sec:    127.48MB
+ sleep 1
+ wrk -d 5 -c 16 http://127.0.0.1:9080/hello
Running 5s test @ http://127.0.0.1:9080/hello
  2 threads and 16 connections
  Thread Stats   Avg      Stdev     Max   +/- Stdev
    Latency   492.73us   57.29us   2.35ms   88.62%
    Req/Sec    16.26k   385.65    17.01k    87.25%
  165027 requests in 5.10s, 656.75MB read
Requests/sec:  32360.46
Transfer/sec:    128.78MB
+ sudo openresty -p /home/wangys/incubator-apisix-master/benchmark/fake-apisix -s stop
+ sudo openresty -p /home/wangys/incubator-apisix-master/benchmark/server -s stop
# 4 workers

apisix: 4 worker + 1 upstream + no plugin
+ curl http://127.0.0.1:9080/apisix/admin/routes/1 -H 'X-API-KEY: edd1c9f034335f136f87ad84b625c8f1' -X PUT -d '
{
    "uri": "/hello",
    "plugins": {
    },
    "upstream": {
        "type": "roundrobin",
        "nodes": {
            "127.0.0.1:80": 1
        }
    }
}'
{"node":{"value":{"priority":0,"plugins":{},"upstream":{"nodes":{"127.0.0.1:80":1},"hash_on":"vars","type":"roundrobin"},"id":"1","uri":"\/hello"},"createdIndex":8,"key":"\/apisix\/routes\/1","modifiedIndex":8},"prevNode":{"value":"{\"priority\":0,\"plugins\":{\"limit-count\":{\"time_window\":60,\"count\":2000000000000,\"rejected_code\":503,\"key\":\"remote_addr\",\"policy\":\"local\"},\"prometheus\":{}},\"upstream\":{\"hash_on\":\"vars\",\"nodes\":{\"127.0.0.1:80\":1},\"type\":\"roundrobin\"},\"id\":\"1\",\"uri\":\"\\\/hello\"}","createdIndex":7,"key":"\/apisix\/routes\/1","modifiedIndex":7},"action":"set"}
+ sleep 1
+ wrk -d 5 -c 16 http://127.0.0.1:9080/hello
Running 5s test @ http://127.0.0.1:9080/hello
  2 threads and 16 connections
  Thread Stats   Avg      Stdev     Max   +/- Stdev
    Latency   286.87us  174.65us   3.00ms   72.00%
    Req/Sec    28.68k     2.94k   35.21k    67.65%
  290908 requests in 5.10s, 1.13GB read
Requests/sec:  57042.36
Transfer/sec:    227.82MB
+ sleep 1
+ wrk -d 5 -c 16 http://127.0.0.1:9080/hello
Running 5s test @ http://127.0.0.1:9080/hello
  2 threads and 16 connections
  Thread Stats   Avg      Stdev     Max   +/- Stdev
    Latency   284.10us  177.81us   4.64ms   76.41%
    Req/Sec    28.94k     2.67k   33.68k    67.65%
  293746 requests in 5.10s, 1.15GB read
Requests/sec:  57598.31
Transfer/sec:    230.04MB
+ sleep 1
+ echo -e '\n\napisix: 4 worker + 1 upstream + 2 plugins (limit-count + prometheus)'


apisix: 4 worker + 1 upstream + 2 plugins (limit-count + prometheus)
+ curl http://127.0.0.1:9080/apisix/admin/routes/1 -H 'X-API-KEY: edd1c9f034335f136f87ad84b625c8f1' -X PUT -d '
{
    "uri": "/hello",
    "plugins": {
        "limit-count": {
            "count": 2000000000000,
            "time_window": 60,
            "rejected_code": 503,
            "key": "remote_addr"
        },
        "prometheus": {}
    },
    "upstream": {
        "type": "roundrobin",
        "nodes": {
            "127.0.0.1:80": 1
        }
    }
}'
{"node":{"value":{"priority":0,"plugins":{"limit-count":{"time_window":60,"count":2000000000000,"rejected_code":503,"key":"remote_addr","policy":"local"},"prometheus":{}},"upstream":{"nodes":{"127.0.0.1:80":1},"hash_on":"vars","type":"roundrobin"},"id":"1","uri":"\/hello"},"createdIndex":9,"key":"\/apisix\/routes\/1","modifiedIndex":9},"prevNode":{"value":"{\"priority\":0,\"plugins\":{},\"upstream\":{\"hash_on\":\"vars\",\"nodes\":{\"127.0.0.1:80\":1},\"type\":\"roundrobin\"},\"id\":\"1\",\"uri\":\"\\\/hello\"}","createdIndex":8,"key":"\/apisix\/routes\/1","modifiedIndex":8},"action":"set"}
+ sleep 3
+ wrk -d 5 -c 16 http://127.0.0.1:9080/hello
Running 5s test @ http://127.0.0.1:9080/hello
  2 threads and 16 connections
  Thread Stats   Avg      Stdev     Max   +/- Stdev
    Latency   342.74us  220.15us   5.38ms   75.84%
    Req/Sec    24.15k     2.44k   28.39k    72.55%
  245033 requests in 5.10s, 0.97GB read
Requests/sec:  48046.94
Transfer/sec:    195.20MB
+ sleep 1
+ wrk -d 5 -c 16 http://127.0.0.1:9080/hello
Running 5s test @ http://127.0.0.1:9080/hello
  2 threads and 16 connections
  Thread Stats   Avg      Stdev     Max   +/- Stdev
    Latency   352.29us  223.55us   3.37ms   70.11%
    Req/Sec    23.51k     2.47k   28.16k    69.61%
  238538 requests in 5.10s, 0.95GB read
Requests/sec:  46777.18
Transfer/sec:    190.04MB
+ sleep 1
+ make stop
/bin/openresty -p $PWD/ -c $PWD/conf/nginx.conf -s stop
+ echo -e '\n\nfake empty apisix server: 4 worker'


fake empty apisix server: 4 worker
+ sleep 1
+ sed -i 's/worker_processes [0-9]*/worker_processes 4/g' benchmark/fake-apisix/conf/nginx.conf
+ sudo openresty -p /home/wangys/incubator-apisix-master/benchmark/fake-apisix
+ sleep 1
+ wrk -d 5 -c 16 http://127.0.0.1:9080/hello
Running 5s test @ http://127.0.0.1:9080/hello
  2 threads and 16 connections
  Thread Stats   Avg      Stdev     Max   +/- Stdev
    Latency   154.62us  104.55us   4.60ms   98.92%
    Req/Sec    51.77k     1.05k   53.74k    71.57%
  525323 requests in 5.10s, 2.04GB read
Requests/sec: 103004.49
Transfer/sec:    409.92MB
+ sleep 1
+ wrk -d 5 -c 16 http://127.0.0.1:9080/hello
Running 5s test @ http://127.0.0.1:9080/hello
  2 threads and 16 connections
  Thread Stats   Avg      Stdev     Max   +/- Stdev
    Latency   152.16us   63.87us   3.56ms   93.89%
    Req/Sec    51.84k   795.29    53.94k    69.61%
  525822 requests in 5.10s, 2.04GB read
Requests/sec: 103113.01
Transfer/sec:    410.35MB
+ sudo openresty -p /home/wangys/incubator-apisix-master/benchmark/fake-apisix -s stop
+ sudo openresty -p /home/wangys/incubator-apisix-master/benchmark/server -s stop

@membphis
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membphis commented Jun 26, 2020

@cboitel I think we can copy them to APISIX issue: https://github.com/apache/incubator-apisix/issues

Then I will submit a new PR about optimization.

@Cerostep
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Cerostep commented Mar 2, 2022

y

@Dhruv-Garg79
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Dhruv-Garg79 commented Mar 13, 2024

@cboitel have you used any of these after your benchmarks? what is your recommendation for someone looking to adopt any of these?
I am interested in a simple nginx use case + auth for low latency and throughput up to 3000qps in the long run.

@knysfh
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knysfh commented Jan 11, 2025

@Dhruv-Garg79 Hi, may I ask which API gateway was ultimately chosen?

@membphis
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membphis commented Jan 24, 2025

you can choose the one you like, both of them are open source, you can know everything if you want to research them.

For me: Apache APISIX is better performance and rich ecosystem, it belongs to the Apache Software Foundation, more open and safe

@zhenguoli
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zhenguoli commented May 20, 2025

Configuration Workers Plugins Requests/sec Transfer/sec Avg Latency Max Latency Notes
APISIX - 1 Worker, No Plugins 1 None ~16,407.59 ~65.53 MB/s ~0.96 ms ~5.47 ms Baseline performance
APISIX - 1 Worker, With Plugins 1 limit-count, prometheus ~16,129.60 ~65.53 MB/s ~0.99 ms ~12.64 ms Minor drop with plugins
APISIX - 2 Workers, No Plugins 2 None ~35,386.00 ~141.33 MB/s ~0.45 ms ~9.50 ms Strong scaling with more workers
APISIX - 2 Workers, With Plugins 2 limit-count, prometheus ~30,633.00 ~124.46 MB/s ~0.52 ms ~10.34 ms Still performs well with plugins
Fake APISIX Server - 1 Worker 1 N/A ~22,504.00 ~89.55 MB/s ~0.71 ms ~4.61 ms Bare OpenResty baseline
Fake APISIX Server - 2 Workers 2 N/A ~46,045.00 ~183.25 MB/s ~0.35 ms ~10.34 ms Max bare-metal performance
Kong - 1 Worker, No Plugins 1 None ~13,728.00 ~55.76 MB/s ~1.19 ms ~6.31 ms Kong baseline
Kong - 2 Workers, No Plugins 2 None ~26,903.00 ~109.27 MB/s ~0.62 ms ~7.76 ms Good multi-worker scaling
Kong - 1 Worker, With Plugins 1 rate-limiting, prometheus ~2,027.00 ~8.66 MB/s ~7.85 ms ~21.36 ms Significant overhead with plugins
Kong - 2 Workers, With Plugins 2 rate-limiting, prometheus ~3,768.00 ~15.91 MB/s ~4.27 ms ~18.91 ms Better than 1 worker but still slow

result table generated by AI for https://gist.github.com/membphis/137db97a4bf64d3653aa42f3e016bd01?permalink_comment_id=3351676#gistcomment-3351676

@Dhruv-Garg79
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Dhruv-Garg79 commented May 20, 2025 •
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@knysfh After doing a lot of tests, I decided to have everything directly on the server side without a reverse proxy and use native K8S capabilities + changes on the main server side. Resource utilisation and performance both improved in my testing.

Also the reason was that I don't want to many components, it makes everything harder to maintain.

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