Kong Gateway
DB-backed Kong API gateway with Kong Manager behind basic auth - managed Postgres, zero config at deploy time.
One-click deploy, from $25/mo on a Miget plan.
Kong is the most battle-tested open-source API gateway: routing, auth plugins (key, JWT, OAuth2), rate limiting, transformations, and observability hooks, all configured through a clean Admin API. This template runs DB-backed Kong OSS in front of your project’s apps.
The security shape is the point: the proxy is the only public surface. The Admin API stays project-internal, and the one authenticated way in from outside is the admin service - nginx serving Kong Manager and proxying the Admin API under /api, both behind basic auth. UI and API on one origin means the Manager works with no CORS or domain configuration.
On Miget, the Postgres container is never deployed - db becomes a managed Postgres and Kong’s connection settings are auto-wired from its credentials. Zero configuration at deploy time.
Upstream project: Kong Gateway (OSS)
#what you get
- Routing, load balancing, and health checks for upstream services
- Plugin ecosystem: key-auth, JWT, OAuth2, rate limiting, CORS, transforms
- Kong Manager web UI + Admin API behind basic auth on one origin
- Admin API never publicly exposed
- Managed Postgres auto-provisioned and auto-wired
- Declarative or API-driven configuration
#topology
| Service | Role | Public |
|---|---|---|
| kong | gateway - proxy :5000, Admin API :8001 (internal) | proxy only |
| admin | nginx - Kong Manager + Admin API at /api | behind basic auth |
| db | Postgres - managed service on Miget | no |
#miget sizing
// this stack needs
2.3 GiB RAM · 5 GB disk · 3 services
1 GiB for Kong handles thousands of requests/second on typical plugin chains; the admin proxy is a 256 MiB sliver. The managed Postgres stores configuration only - it stays small.
Hobby - recommended fit
$25/mo
2 vCPU · 4 GiB · 80 GiB disk
Headroom for your own apps: 8 GiB at $49/mo
Professional - production
$43/mo
2 vCPU · 4 GiB · 25 GiB disk
Dedicated resources, production SLOs - plan details
One Miget plan is a fixed pool of compute - the whole stack (managed databases included) deploys inside it, and anything left over runs your other apps. No per-service or per-seat math.
#vs. the managed service
What the hosted equivalents charge, against the flat Miget plan this stack fits on. Prices as of June 2026, sources linked.
| Service | Plan | Monthly | What you get |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kong Gateway on Miget ★ | 4 GiB plan | $25 | this whole stack, flat - no usage meters, and room left for your own apps |
| Kong Konnect | Plus (serverless gateway) | ~$25 | per gateway, 1M requests/mo included - then $200 per extra 1M (cap 10M) |
Self-hosted Kong OSS has no request metering; Konnect adds the hosted control plane and analytics.
#vs. other PaaS
Estimated monthly cost of running this exact stack (2.3 GiB RAM, 5 GB disk, 3 containers) elsewhere, from published June 2026 rates.
| Platform | Est. monthly | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Miget ★ | $25 flat | compose stacks first-class: one deploy, dedicated vCPU, managed Postgres/Valkey, volumes and TLS all included in the plan |
| Heroku | ~$113 | no volumes; nothing between 1 GB ($50) and 2.5 GB ($250) dynos - 2 GB containers cost far more than shown |
| DO App Platform | ~$32 | no persistent volumes - stateful containers need managed DBs/Spaces (base $5 Spaces included here) |
| Render | ~$29 | per-service instances (0.5 GB $7, 2 GB $25) - every container is its own paid service |
| Railway | ~$23 | usage-based ($10/GB RAM-mo); vCPU billed separately at $20/vCPU-mo on top |
| Fly.io | ~$14 | cheapest sticker price - but burstable shared CPUs (1/16 core; dedicated vCPUs cost ~2-3×), no compose deploys (one app per container, manual wiring), managed DBs billed extra |
Estimates assume RAM fully allocated at published on-demand rates - and sticker price isn't the whole comparison: the cheaper rows buy burstable shared CPUs, per-service wiring instead of a compose deploy, and managed databases billed separately. Heroku and DO App Platform have no persistent volumes at all - stateful stacks like this one need workarounds there.
#deploy it
On Miget
- Create a Compose Stack in app.miget.com pointing at the templates repository
- Set the stack path to
kong -
Set the required variable:
ADMIN_USERNAME / ADMIN_PASSWORD, basic auth on Kong Manager + proxied Admin API
- Deploy. Miget layers
compose.miget.yaml(RAM, privacy, volumes, managed services) automatically
Locally first?
Every template is portable, vanilla Docker Compose - the Miget overrides are ignored locally:
git clone https://github.com/deployable-sh/stacks
cd miget-compose-templates/kong
docker compose up -dSame files, same behavior. The template README covers connection strings and scaling notes.
#faq
Kong OSS vs Kong Konnect - what am I giving up?
Konnect adds the hosted control plane, dev portal, and analytics, priced per service/gateway. Kong OSS here keeps the entire data plane and Admin API plus Kong Manager UI - for most teams routing internal and public APIs, that is the whole job, at a flat $25/month plan.
How do I configure routes and services?
Through Kong Manager (your admin domain, basic auth) or the Admin API at /api on the same origin - or curl it from any app inside the project at kong:8001. Services point at in-project upstreams by service name, e.g. http://my-api:5000.
Is the Admin API safe from the internet?
Yes - it has no public route. Outside access goes only through the nginx admin service behind basic auth; strip that service entirely and the Admin API becomes project-internal only.
Why DB-backed instead of declarative (DB-less) Kong?
DB-backed enables runtime configuration through the Manager UI and Admin API without redeploys, which is the comfortable operating mode on a platform. The managed Postgres makes the usual cost of DB-backed Kong - running the database - disappear.
Ship Kong Gateway today
One compose stack, 2.3 GiB of RAM, from $25/month flat, and it runs on your laptop with the same files.