Kong AI Gateway vs. AssemblyAI

Learn why teams building Voice AI choose AssemblyAI’s managed LLM Gateway over running Kong’s gateway themselves:

0% markup on a fully managed API—no self-hosted gateway or data planes to operate
Native speech-to-text in the same pipeline—Kong has no first-party speech
Automatic fallbacks included, plus EU data residency by default and opt-in zero data retention

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At a glance: Kong AI Gateway vs. AssemblyAI

Model

AssemblyAI LLM Gateway

Kong AI Gateway

Deployment

Fully managed API

Self-hosted gateway you operate

Model access

25+ managed models, one API

Routes to your own provider accounts

Speech-to-text

First-party models—no extra hop

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Automatic fallbacks

Configurable per-model

Enterprise tier only

Pricing

0% markup

Custom enterprise + provider bills

EU data residency

Default-on for EU traffic

Self-managed

Zero data retention

Opt-in, per request

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OpenAI SDK compatible

Provider-agnostic

A managed gateway, without the infrastructure to run

Fully managed API

No Nginx data planes, vector databases, or plugin tiers to run. Call one hosted endpoint—the routing and reliability infrastructure is ours to operate.

Managed models, billed once

Call 25+ frontier models through one API at provider rates. Kong hosts no models, so you still contract with and pay each provider yourself.

Native speech-to-text

Transcribe with AssemblyAI’s own speech models and apply any LLM to the result in one pipeline. Kong is a routing layer with no first-party speech at all.

0% markup

Pay provider token rates with no gateway markup and no minimum commitment—not enterprise-only reliability features on custom, unpublished pricing.

Automatic fallbacks

Configure a primary model and any number of backups per request—included, not gated behind an enterprise tier. If a provider fails, the Gateway retries the next model.

OpenAI-compatible

Drop into any OpenAI SDK or HTTP client. Change a base URL and a model string, and the rest of your code keeps working.

EU data residency & ZDR

EU-resident infrastructure on by default for EU traffic, plus opt-in zero data retention per request—managed for you, not a self-hosted configuration exercise.

BAA available

Sign a Business Associate Addendum for applications that process PHI, backed by SOC 2 Type 2, ISO 27001, PCI DSS, and GDPR.

Start building

Get your free API key and make your first Gateway call in minutes—no infrastructure to stand up.

Live demo

Pick a model. Take action on your audio.

The same transcript, four different jobs, four different models — all routed through one endpoint.

Prompt

What is runner's knee?

claude-opus-4-7 412 ms · 47 tokens

Based on the transcript, runner's knee is a condition characterized by pain behind or around the kneecap. It is caused by overuse, muscle imbalance and inadequate stretching. Symptoms include pain under or around the kneecap and pain when walking.

Skip the self-hosted plumbing

Get one managed, OpenAI-compatible API with 0% markup, included fallbacks, and native speech-to-text—no gateway to deploy or operate.

Get your API key

Playground

We’re not playing around—but you can

Put our Voice AI models and the LLM Gateway to the test in our no-code playground.

Explore Playground

Frequently asked questions

: Kong AI Gateway is a set of AI plugins on Kong’s self-hosted API gateway—infrastructure you deploy and operate that routes to providers you contract with separately. AssemblyAI’s LLM Gateway is a fully managed API: call 25+ models at 0% markup with native speech-to-text and no infrastructure to run. Choose AssemblyAI for managed simplicity and audio; choose Kong if you’re a platform team standardizing governance across many providers on your own infrastructure.
: Yes. Kong AI Gateway runs on Kong Gateway, which you self-host (or pay Kong Konnect to help manage), including data planes and vector databases for semantic caching. AssemblyAI is a hosted API you call directly—there is nothing to deploy or maintain.
: AssemblyAI charges 0% markup on tokens with no gateway fee. Kong’s core is open source, but its production AI features—multi-provider fallback, load balancing, semantic caching, and token-based rate limiting—are enterprise-only on custom, unpublished pricing, and that sits on top of the bills you pay each model provider directly.
: AssemblyAI, because it runs its own speech-to-text models and applies any LLM to the transcript in one pipeline—no second vendor and no extra network hop. Kong has no native speech-to-text; it can only proxy a third-party speech provider you contract separately.
: Kong’s API-management pedigree is genuinely strong—centralized credential storage, PII sanitization, prompt guards, and attestations for SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA, PCI DSS, and GDPR make it a credible enterprise governance layer. AssemblyAI’s wedge is not out-governing Kong; it is managed simplicity plus native speech, with EU residency and ZDR on by default instead of self-assembled.
: With AssemblyAI, yes—EU residency is on by default for EU traffic, zero data retention is available per request, and a Business Associate Addendum (BAA) is available for workloads that process PHI. Kong holds HIPAA and SOC 2 attestations, but EU residency and data retention are yours to configure on self-hosted infrastructure, and it publishes no zero-data-retention mode.