Last updated June 5th 2024

Akana API Gateway vs Ambassador Edge Stack for API Gateway in 2025

Akana API Gateway and Ambassador Edge Stack are sometimes compared for numerous use cases in API Gateway. We have a detailed features table below. You can also customize your requirements and get expert ratings comparing these two solutions against hundreds of data points across Security, Lifecycle, Pricing, Use Case Fit, Attack Protection, Access Controls, Integration, Observability, Traffic Management, Policy Management, Service Orchestration, Compliance, Authentication and Performance.

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Akana API Gateway logo

Akana API Gateway

Akana API Gateway caters predominantly to enterprises and any federated partner API ecosystem, providing a robust platform for API management. Its most notable feature is its comprehensive analytics reporting and business insight capabilities related to API traffic. With these analytics, organizations can glean valuable insights about their API usage, facilitating data-driven decision-making processes. Such detailed visibility into API traffic can help organizations optimize their API strategies, improve performance, identify bottlenecks, and create a better user experience. This makes Akana API Gateway a reliable choice for businesses that require in-depth analytics and insights.

Grade Akana API Gateway for my use case
Ambassador Edge Stack logo

Ambassador Edge Stack

Ambassador Edge Stack is a cloud native API gateway and a Kubernetes native microservices management platform. Ambassador uses the Envoy proxy as its core proxy. At its core, Ambassador is designed to serve as an ingress controller for Kubernetes. In this capacity, it acts as the entry point for external traffic into the Kubernetes environment.

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Feature Comparison

Customize these feature priorities in Taloflow and get expert ratings for your exact use case.

Feature Dimensions Description Akana Ambassador
Platform Access Revocation
  • Observability
  • Security
  • Compliance
  • Access Controls
Administrators can block or suspend consumers, revoke developer access, and block all related applications. Poor Poor
Policy Bundling
  • Compliance
  • Policy Management
Bundle multiple policies. OK Poor
Policy Deployment
  • Compliance
  • Policy Management
Live configuration deployment of policies without any downtime. OK Poor
Policy Design
  • Compliance
  • Policy Management
Combine service tiers, security policies, mediators, and monetization schemes into a pre-built 'plan' that may be attached to an API definition. OK Poor
Policy Enforcement
  • Compliance
  • Policy Management
Enforce API runtime policies and API lifecycle policies. OK Poor
Policy Tagging
  • Compliance
  • Policy Management
Specify rules that are only applicable to resources when they are tagged. OK Poor
Policy Versioning
  • Compliance
  • Policy Management
Manage multiple versions of a policy. OK OK
API Composition
  • Service Orchestration
  • Lifecycle
Aggregate results from multiple service interfaces into a single result. OK OK
GraphQL
  • Service Orchestration
  • Lifecycle
Support for GraphQL with Rest APIs to extract data from multiple underlying APIs. OK NA
OData
  • Service Orchestration
  • Lifecycle
Support for Open Data Protocol (OData) for defining and consuming the APIs. Poor Poor
RAML
  • Service Orchestration
  • Lifecycle
Support for Restful API Modelling Language (RAML) which uses YAML for describing the APIs. OK OK
gRPC
  • Service Orchestration
  • Lifecycle
Support for Remote Procedure Calls (RPC) APIs that are sent over HTTP 2.0. OK OK
Malformed Message
  • Security
  • Attack Protection
Protects the API from malformed packet and message attacks. Poor Poor
Malicious Scripting
  • Security
  • Attack Protection
Detects cross-site scripting attacks. OK Poor
Malware Detection
  • Security
  • Attack Protection
Detects malware embedded in attachments. OK Poor
Message Depth Limit
  • Security
  • Attack Protection
Detects and prevents excessive XML/JSON depth and breadth attacks. Poor Poor
Message Injection
  • Security
  • Attack Protection
Monitors for SQL, JavaScript, and Xpath/Query injection attacks. OK Poor
Parameter Inspection
  • Security
  • Attack Protection
Protects against parameter attacks that exploit the data sent into an API. Poor OK
System Overload
  • Security
  • Attack Protection
Throttles throughput based on values you configure to protect downstream systems. Poor OK
API Abuse Detection
  • Compliance
  • Access Controls
Detect abnormal use of API for methods that are outside of the intended or acceptable use cases OK OK
API Revocation
  • Security
  • Compliance
  • Access Controls
Ability to block an API subscription and completely restrict an application. OK OK
Anonymous Platform Access
  • Security
  • Compliance
  • Access Controls
Expose unrestricted information to anyone, without tracking API usage, consumer applications, or the user's identity. Poor Poor
Custom Authentication Methods
  • Access Controls
Define custom authentication methods for allowing access to the services. OK OK
Domain Policies
  • Access Controls
Enforce access control across multiple developer communities. OK OK
Fine-grained Access
  • Security
  • Compliance
  • Access Controls
Limit access to API operations by API consumer or restrict consumption access to specific API operations. OK NA
IP White/Blacklisting
  • Access Controls
Block or allow requests from an IP address without checking whether the requests are malicious. OK OK
Platform Access Levels
  • Security
  • Compliance
  • Access Controls
Define what information different users on the account can access and edit. OK Poor
RBAC
  • Security
  • Compliance
  • Access Controls
Define custom user roles and associated permissions. Administrators, publishers and consumers can have role-based access controls defined by API endpoint. OK Great
Akamai
  • Integration
Support integration with Akamai. Poor Poor
Amazon CloudFront
  • Integration
Support integration with Amazon CloudFront. OK Poor
Authorization Service
  • Integration
  • Security
Integrate an external OAuth resource server, external right repositories and authorization services. OK Poor
Azure CDN
  • Integration
Support integration with Azure CDN. OK Poor
CacheFly
  • Integration
Support integration with CacheFly. NA Poor
CloudFlare
  • Integration
Support integration with CloudFlare. Poor OK
Cyber Ark
  • Integration
Support integration with Cyber Ark. Poor Good
Directory Service
  • Integration
  • Security
Integrate with existing directory services (e.g. internal LDAP, Microsoft Active Directory). Poor Poor
Fastly
  • Integration
Support integration with Fastly. Poor NA
ForgeRock
  • Integration
Support integration with ForgeRock. Poor NA
Google Cloud CDN
  • Integration
Support integration with Google Cloud CDN. Poor Great
IBM Security Verify
  • Integration
Support integration with IBM Security Verify. Poor OK
Identity Management
  • Integration
  • Security
  • Authentication
Provides an identity management solution or allows you to work with your pre-existing identity management solution. OK Poor
Key Management
  • Integration
  • Security
  • Authentication
Integrate with external secure token services. Poor Poor
Micro Focus
  • Integration
Support integration with Micro Focus. Poor Poor
Microsoft Active Directory
  • Integration
Support integration with Microsoft Active Directory. OK OK
Okta
  • Integration
Support integration with Okta. OK OK
OneLogin
  • Integration
Support integration with OneLogin. Poor OK
Ping Identity
  • Integration
Support integration with Ping Identity. OK Poor
Public Key Infrastructure (PKI)
  • Integration
  • Security
  • Authentication
Integrate with external Public Key Infrastructure (PKI). OK Poor
Single Sign-on (SSO)
  • Integration
  • Security
  • Authentication
Configure Single Sign-On (SSO) using SAML 2.0 for easy integration with existing web applications. OK Great
StackPath
  • Integration
Support integration with StackPath. Poor OK
Basic Authentication
  • Security
  • Compliance
  • Authentication
A simple authentication scheme that is built into the HTTP protocol. OK Poor
CCPA
  • Compliance
Regulation on data protection and privacy of the data tied to residents of California. NA OK
Digest Access Authentication
  • Compliance
  • Authentication
Method of authentication wherein a request from a potential user is received by a network server and then sent to a domain controller. OK Poor
FedRamp
  • Compliance
Ensures that the government security requirements outlined in NIST 800-53 are met and supplemented by the PMO of FedRAMP. Great NA
GDPR
  • Compliance
Regulation on data protection and data privacy tied to EU residents. Great NA
HIPAA
  • Compliance
Demonstrates security and compliance with standards of the healthcare industry. Great OK
HITRUST
  • Compliance
Demonstrates compliance with HITRUST CSF which is an industry-agnostic certifiable framework for regulatory compliance and risk management. This framework, developed by the not-for-profit organization HITRUST, contains a set of prescriptive controls that relate to the organizational processes and technical controls for processing, storing, and transmitting sensitive data. Great Poor
OAuth
  • Compliance
  • Authentication
Open standard authorization framework. OK Poor
OpenID
  • Compliance
  • Authentication
Support for pen standard and decentralized authentication protocol OpenID. OK OK
PCI
  • Compliance
Standard that ensures security guidelines are met for all entities that store, process, or transmit cardholder data and/or sensitive authentication data. Great OK
PSD2
  • Compliance
Demonstrates compliance with European regulations related to the Payment Services Directive. Great Poor
SAML Support
  • Security
  • Compliance
  • Authentication
Support for SAML, an XML based open standard for transferring data between two parties. OK NA
SOC
  • Compliance
Standard promoted by the American Institute of CPAs that ensures the integrity and privacy of customer data. Great OK
SSL/TLS
  • Security
  • Compliance
Secure server communication using SSL/TLS. OK OK
Token-based Authentication
  • Compliance
  • Authentication
Support for generating application tokens and authenticating using tokens. OK NA
Traffic Prioritization
  • Traffic Management
  • Compliance
Detect abnormal use of API for methods that are outside of the intended or acceptable use cases. OK OK
WS-Security
  • Security
  • Compliance
  • Authentication
Support for WS-Security, an extension of SOAP for more secure web services. OK OK
Caching
  • Traffic Management
API caching reduces the number of calls made to your endpoint. Poor Poor
Content-based Routing
  • Traffic Management
Route the requests based on the content. OK OK
Quota Management
  • Traffic Management
Provide API administrators the ability to assign specific API call limits based on classes of users. OK Poor
Rate Limiting
  • Traffic Management
Limits the number of requests an API can accept within a time window. OK Poor
Throttling
  • Traffic Management
Limits the number of API requests a user can make within a time window. OK OK
Low-Cost Pricing Per API Call
  • Pricing
Pricing model is economical for medium to high amounts of API calls (3M+ calls a month). NA Poor
Low-Cost Pricing for API Gateways
  • Pricing
Pricing model is economical for API Gateways. NA Poor
Low-Cost Pricing for High Egress
  • Pricing
Pricing model is economical for high amounts of egress or data transfer. NA Poor
Low-Cost Pricing for Low API Call Volume
  • Pricing
Pricing model is economical for a low API call volume (<1M calls a month). NA OK
API Request Auditability
  • Service Orchestration
Run reports to see requests were made. OK OK
API Versioning
  • Service Orchestration
Virtual API versioning within the API gateway. OK OK
API Virtualization
  • Service Orchestration
Support for creating a virtual copy of your API. OK OK
Asia-Pacific Region
  • Service Orchestration
Data center available in the Asia-Pacific region. Great Poor
AsyncAPI
  • Service Orchestration
Support for the API specification format that uses asynchronous messaging and event-based communication patterns. Poor OK
EU Region
  • Service Orchestration
Data center available in the European Union region. Great Great
JSON to SOAP Conversion
  • Service Orchestration
Support for converting SOAP to JSON, or JSON to XML. Good OK
JSON to XML Conversion
  • Service Orchestration
Support for converting SOAP to JSON, or JSON to XML. OK Good
North America Region
  • Service Orchestration
Data center available in the North America region. Great Poor
OAS/Swagger
  • Service Orchestration
Support for the Open API Standard (OAS) used when designing Restful APIs. Good Poor
SOAP to JSON Conversion
  • Service Orchestration
Support for converting SOAP to JSON, or JSON to XML. Good NA
South America Region
  • Service Orchestration
Data center available in the South America region. Great OK
XML to JSON Conversion
  • Service Orchestration
Support for converting SOAP to JSON, or JSON to XML. OK OK
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