# Kong AI Gateway vs Sealgate | MCP Gateway Comparison Kong AI Gateway vs Sealgate compared across runtime enforcement, DLP, stdio handling, device-level management and audit. See where each MCP gateway fits and why teams pick Sealgate for runtime agent data security. Source: https://sealgate.ai/comparison/kong-ai-gateway-vs-sealgate --- [Docs](https://sealgate.ai/docs/) [Product](https://sealgate.ai/product) AI Data Leaks [Guides](https://sealgate.ai/guides/) [Blog](https://sealgate.ai/blog/) [Pricing](https://sealgate.ai/pricing) [Comparison](https://sealgate.ai/comparison) [Book a demo](https://cal.com/eito80/demo) [Start Free](https://dashboard.sealgate.ai) AI gateway # Kong AI Gateway vs Sealgate How Kong AI Gateway and Sealgate compare for securing AI agents and their MCP tool calls, and where each one fits. Last updated: September 2026 Kong AI Gateway. Kong AI Gateway is an enterprise API, LLM and MCP gateway: it turns APIs into MCP servers and secures, observes and governs MCP, LLM and A2A traffic through route-level plugins, with an MCP Registry for tool discovery. Sealgate. A runtime agentic data firewall that blocks dangerous tool calls before they execute, scans tool traffic for data loss and prompt injection, discovers shadow MCP servers on the device, and streams a provable audit trail to your SIEM. Bottom line: Kong is an enterprise gateway that governs MCP and LLM traffic at the network route level; Sealgate is a device-level firewall that keeps local servers on the endpoint, discovers shadow MCP, and governs the agent CLI. ## Kong AI Gateway vs Sealgate, feature by feature Sealgate leads with the rows at the top, its clearest points of difference, then the parity rows every enterprise gateway is expected to cover. | Capability | Sealgate | Kong AI Gateway | | --- | --- | --- | | How local stdio MCP servers are handled. Whether your local MCP server stays on the device or is shipped elsewhere. | Tunnel in place (Yes) | HTTP proxy (No) | | Local stdio servers stay on-device. The server keeps running on the machine, with no host-and-lift and no HTTP re-expose. | ✓ Yes | ✕ No | | Device-level management. An endpoint agent that discovers and governs MCP activity on the device itself. | ✓ Yes | ✕ No | | Interface coverage. Whether the gateway governs only the MCP protocol, or the agent CLI and LLM API too. | MCP + CLI (Yes) | MCP + LLM/API (Partial) | | Runtime enforcement. Blocks a dangerous tool call before it executes, not just after the fact. | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes | | DLP, PII and secrets scanning. Inspects tool inputs and outputs for sensitive data at runtime. | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes | | Prompt injection and tool-poisoning defense. Detects and stops injection, tool poisoning and rug-pull attacks. | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes | | Gateway holds the credential. The gateway issues the final call so the agent cannot bypass policy and retry. | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes | | Shadow MCP discovery. Finds unauthorized MCP servers before they are used. | ✓ Yes | ~ Partial | | Provable per-call audit. A receipt for every call: agent, tool, policy version, result. | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes | | SIEM integration and export. Streams audit events to Splunk, Sentinel and other SIEMs. | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes | | SSO, SCIM and RBAC. Enterprise identity, group sync and role-based access. | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes | | Tool-level policy. Read and write tiers, per-tool rules and human-in-the-loop approvals. | ✓ Yes | ~ Partial | | Self-host, on-prem or VPC. Run it in your own environment for data residency. | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes | | Compliance mapping. Evidence mapped to SOC 2, NIST AI RMF and the EU AI Act. | ~ Partial | ~ Partial | | Low latency overhead. Minimal added latency on the tool-call path. | ✓ Yes | ~ Partial | | Open source core. An open, inspectable core rather than a closed proxy. | ✕ No | ~ Partial | ✓ Strong or native ~ Partial or via a partner ✕ Not offered – Not publicly verified ## Where Sealgate is different - Sealgate runs a device-level agent and discovers shadow MCP servers on the endpoint; Kong's MCP Registry is an opt-in catalog of approved servers, not active on-device discovery. - Sealgate governs the agent CLI as well as MCP; Kong governs MCP and LLM traffic that flows through the network gateway. - Sealgate keeps local stdio servers on the device through a tunnel; Kong is an HTTP proxy that fronts networked MCP servers. ## Get AI agents signed off by security, faster Adopt AI agents and connect them to real data without leaking it. Start free, or book a walkthrough. [Start Free](https://dashboard.sealgate.ai) [Book a Demo](https://sealgate.ai/contact) ## Frequently asked questions Is Sealgate a good alternative to Kong AI Gateway? Yes. Kong AI Gateway is an enterprise API, LLM and MCP gateway: it turns APIs into MCP servers and secures, observes and governs MCP, LLM and A2A traffic through route-level plugins, with an MCP Registry for tool discovery. Sealgate is a runtime agentic data firewall that blocks dangerous tool calls before they execute, scans tool traffic for data loss and prompt injection, discovers shadow MCP servers on the device, and streams a provable audit trail to your SIEM. If runtime data security is the priority, Sealgate is a strong alternative. What does Sealgate do that Kong AI Gateway does not? Sealgate runs a device-level agent and discovers shadow MCP servers on the endpoint; Kong's MCP Registry is an opt-in catalog of approved servers, not active on-device discovery. ## Sources Claims about Kong AI Gateway are drawn from its own public documentation, last reviewed September 2026. If something is out of date, tell us at [hello@sealgate.ai](mailto:hello@sealgate.ai) and we will correct it. - [Kong AI Gateway](https://konghq.com/products/kong-ai-gateway) - [Kong MCP Registry](https://konghq.com/products/mcp-registry) - [Kong AI Gateway docs](https://developer.konghq.com/ai-gateway/) ## Compare Sealgate with other gateways [MintMCP vs Sealgate](https://sealgate.ai/comparison/mintmcp-vs-sealgate) [Golf (GolfMCP) vs Sealgate](https://sealgate.ai/comparison/golf-vs-sealgate) [Runlayer vs Sealgate](https://sealgate.ai/comparison/runlayer-vs-sealgate) [Rippling vs Sealgate](https://sealgate.ai/comparison/rippling-vs-sealgate) [Portkey vs Sealgate](https://sealgate.ai/comparison/portkey-vs-sealgate) [Unipile vs Sealgate](https://sealgate.ai/comparison/unipile-vs-sealgate) [Zapier MCP vs Sealgate](https://sealgate.ai/comparison/zapier-mcp-vs-sealgate) [Composio vs Sealgate](https://sealgate.ai/comparison/composio-vs-sealgate) [Docker MCP Gateway vs Sealgate](https://sealgate.ai/comparison/docker-mcp-gateway-vs-sealgate) [Lasso Security vs Sealgate](https://sealgate.ai/comparison/lasso-security-vs-sealgate) [Obot vs Sealgate](https://sealgate.ai/comparison/obot-vs-sealgate) [MCP Manager vs Sealgate](https://sealgate.ai/comparison/mcp-manager-vs-sealgate) [PolicyLayer vs Sealgate](https://sealgate.ai/comparison/policylayer-vs-sealgate) [mcpgate vs Sealgate](https://sealgate.ai/comparison/mcpgate-vs-sealgate) [Peta vs Sealgate](https://sealgate.ai/comparison/peta-vs-sealgate) [Executor vs Sealgate](https://sealgate.ai/comparison/executor-vs-sealgate) [Arcade vs Sealgate](https://sealgate.ai/comparison/arcade-vs-sealgate) [Pipedream Connect MCP vs Sealgate](https://sealgate.ai/comparison/pipedream-vs-sealgate) [TrueFoundry vs Sealgate](https://sealgate.ai/comparison/truefoundry-vs-sealgate) [Traefik vs Sealgate](https://sealgate.ai/comparison/traefik-vs-sealgate) [StackOne vs Sealgate](https://sealgate.ai/comparison/stackone-vs-sealgate) [Workato Enterprise MCP vs Sealgate](https://sealgate.ai/comparison/workato-vs-sealgate) [Lunar MCPX vs Sealgate](https://sealgate.ai/comparison/lunar-mcpx-vs-sealgate) [IBM ContextForge vs Sealgate](https://sealgate.ai/comparison/ibm-contextforge-vs-sealgate) [Invariant MCP-Scan vs Sealgate](https://sealgate.ai/comparison/invariant-mcp-scan-vs-sealgate) [Bifrost vs Sealgate](https://sealgate.ai/comparison/bifrost-vs-sealgate) [Merge Agent Handler vs Sealgate](https://sealgate.ai/comparison/merge-agent-handler-vs-sealgate) [Microsoft MCP Gateway vs Sealgate](https://sealgate.ai/comparison/microsoft-mcp-gateway-vs-sealgate) [See all comparisons](https://sealgate.ai/comparison) ### Contact Us Sealgate (GPU-EVM LTD) 3rd Floor, 86-90 Paul Street London EC2A 4NE Email: hello@sealgate.ai ### Legal [Terms of Service](https://sealgate.ai/terms-of-service) [Privacy Policy](https://sealgate.ai/privacy-policy) [Subprocessors](https://sealgate.ai/subprocessors) [Data Processing Addendum](https://sealgate.ai/dpa) ### Quick Links [Home](https://sealgate.ai/) [Product](https://sealgate.ai/product) [Pricing](https://sealgate.ai/pricing) [Self-hosting](https://sealgate.ai/self-hosting) [Security](https://sealgate.ai/security) [Comparison](https://sealgate.ai/comparison) [About](https://sealgate.ai/about) [Contact](https://sealgate.ai/contact) [Brand](https://sealgate.ai/brand) [Press](https://sealgate.ai/press) [Docs](https://sealgate.ai/docs/) [Developer docs](https://sealgate.ai/docs/developers) [Guides](https://sealgate.ai/guides/) [Blog](https://sealgate.ai/blog/) ### Connect [Connect AI to messaging](https://sealgate.ai/connect) [WhatsApp](https://sealgate.ai/connect/whatsapp) [iMessage](https://sealgate.ai/connect/imessage) [Telegram](https://sealgate.ai/connect/telegram) [LinkedIn DMs](https://sealgate.ai/connect/linkedin) [Signal](https://sealgate.ai/connect/signal) [Instagram DMs](https://sealgate.ai/connect/instagram) [Messenger](https://sealgate.ai/connect/messenger) [X DMs](https://sealgate.ai/connect/x) [Discord DMs](https://sealgate.ai/connect/discord) [LINE](https://sealgate.ai/connect/line) [Beeper](https://sealgate.ai/beeper) ### Follow Us