Kong vs Postman
Side-by-side from the Top 11 rankings of The 11 Best API Management Tools and Platforms (2026) and The 11 Best API Testing Tools (2026). Last verified June 29, 2026.
The short answer
Postman ranks higher on Top 11 (#1 vs #1) for Engineering teams and platform architects building, securing, and monitoring APIs / Backend engineers, QA automation teams, and platform teams validating REST, GraphQL, gRPC, and SOAP APIs. The most complete option for teams that need authoring, automation, and CI in one place.
At a glance
| Kong | Postman | |
|---|---|---|
| Top 11 rank | #1 / The 11 Best API Management Tools and Platforms (2026) | #1 / The 11 Best API Testing Tools (2026) |
| Score (out of 9.4) | 9.3 | 9.2 |
| Best for | High-performance, extensible K8s gateway | All-round team API testing |
| Pricing | $$$$ (Starts free, enterprise >$2,500/mo) | $$ (Free tier, teams ~$14-$29/user/mo) |
| HQ | San Francisco, USA | San Francisco, USA |
| Founded | 2017 | 2014 |
Kong
Top choice for raw performance and extensibility, especially in Kubernetes environments.
konghq.com/See full entry in The 11 Best API Management Tools and Platforms (2026)
Postman
The most complete option for teams that need authoring, automation, and CI in one place.
www.postman.com/Methodology and scoring weights live at /methodology. No vendor pays for placement — see about.