Apache APISIX
Apache APISIX is a dynamic, real-time, high-performance cloud-native API gateway built on NGINX and etcd, developed by the Apache Software Foundation. It supports Lua and multi-language plugins for traffic management, authentication, observability, and security. APISIX provides a RESTful Admin API for dynamic configuration of routes, upstreams, services, consumers, SSL certificates, and plugins, and a Control API for health monitoring and schema introspection.
Real signal across most facets with visible, nameable gaps — the contract exists but is thin, or the portal is good while governance and commercial terms are absent.
API Evangelist profiles Apache APISIX the way a machine reads it — 83 machine-readable artifacts across 18 APIs, pulled from the provider's own public surface and indexed so a developer, an analyst, or an AI agent can evaluate it against every other provider on the network.
Every provider in the network is reduced to the same set of machine-readable artifacts — OpenAPI contracts, event specifications, GraphQL schemas, runnable collections, pricing and rate-limit signals, security posture, OAuth scopes, and the agent surfaces (MCP servers and skills) that let software drive the API on its own. We profile them because the interface is the part of a company you can actually inspect: it is a truer signal of what a provider does than any marketing page. From those artifacts we compute the Kin Score — Apache APISIX scores 57.8/100 (developing), with a separate agent-readiness read of 48/100 (agent ready). The full breakdown is below, followed by every artifact we hold — each card links through to its machine-readable definition on apis.io.
Kin Score
This is the API Evangelist rating — a single, repeatable read computed from the artifacts on this page. Green fill is points earned; the red track is points possible, so every bar shows earned-versus-possible at a glance.
Kin Score
How this is scored →scored 2026-07-27 · rubric v0.5
How we profile Apache APISIX
Each block below is one kind of artifact we hold for Apache APISIX. For each we say what it is and why it earns a place in the profile, then list every one we've indexed — capped at two rows, scroll within the panel for the rest.
APIs 18
Each API is captured as its own OpenAPI definition — every operation, parameter, and response. This is the single most useful machine-readable description of what an API does, and it's what lets us score, lint, mock, and generate against it without asking the provider for anything.
Individual APIs this provider publishes, each with its own machine-readable definition.
Apache APISIX Gateway
Apache APISIX provides rich traffic management features including load balancing, dynamic upstream configuration, canary releases, circuit breaking, authentication, observabilit...
Apache APISIX Consumer Groups API
Manage consumer groups for shared plugin configurations.
Apache APISIX Consumers API
Manage API consumers and their credentials.
Apache APISIX Diagnostics API
Runtime diagnostic operations.
Apache APISIX Global Rules API
Manage global plugin rules applied to all requests.
Apache APISIX Health Check API
Monitor the health status of upstream nodes.
Apache APISIX Introspection API
Inspect the runtime configuration of the APISIX instance.
Apache APISIX Plugin Configs API
Manage reusable plugin configuration sets.
Apache APISIX Plugin Metadata API
Manage metadata for individual plugins.
Apache APISIX Plugins API
Query available plugins and their schemas.
Apache APISIX Protos API
Manage Protocol Buffer definition resources.
Apache APISIX Routes API
Manage HTTP routes that define rules for matching client requests.
Apache APISIX Schema API
Validate resource configurations against APISIX schemas.
Apache APISIX Secrets API
Manage secrets from external secret managers.
Apache APISIX Services API
The Services API from Apache APISIX — 2 operation(s) for services.
Apache APISIX SSL API
Manage SSL/TLS certificate resources.
Apache APISIX Stream Routes API
Manage Layer 4 TCP/UDP stream routes.
Apache APISIX Upstreams API
Manage upstream backend service definitions with load balancing.
Scroll within the panel for all 18 ·
Open Collections 2
Open, tool-agnostic collections carry the same runnable value as Postman without locking you to one client — the portable, forkable form of the same exercise.
Open, tool-agnostic API collections (OpenAPI-derived and Bruno).
Apache APISIX Admin API
OPEN COLLECTIONApache APISIX Control API
OPEN COLLECTIONPricing Plans 1
Pricing is part of the interface. Machine-readable plans tell you what a tier costs and includes before you commit — one of the six things the Kin Score reads for commercial clarity.
Published pricing tiers and plan structures.
Rate Limits 1
Rate limits are the difference between a demo that works and a production integration that doesn't fall over. Publishing them is an operational-transparency signal — and a hard requirement for any agent that plans its own throughput.
Documented rate limits and quota policies.
Apache Apisix Rate Limits
RATE LIMITSFinOps 1
Cost, billing, and metering signals let a buyer model the financial operations of an API before it's live. We profile them for the same reason we profile pricing: the money is part of the contract.
Cost, billing, and metering signals for API financial operations.
Apache Apisix Finops
FINOPSFeatures 10
The notable capabilities this provider advertises, captured as structured features so they can be searched and compared instead of read one landing page at a time.
Notable capabilities this provider offers.
Dynamic Route Configuration
Dynamically add, update, and delete routes without restarting via the Admin API and etcd-backed config.
Multi-Protocol Support
Supports HTTP, HTTPS, HTTP/2, gRPC, TCP, UDP, and WebSocket protocols for diverse API types.
Plugin Ecosystem
Rich plugin ecosystem for authentication (JWT, key-auth, OAuth2), rate limiting, transformations, and observability.
Multi-Language Plugin Support
Plugins can be written in Lua, Go, Python, Java, and Node.js via the Plugin Runner architecture.
Load Balancing
Supports round-robin, consistent hashing, EWMA, and least connections load balancing strategies.
Canary Releases
Traffic splitting for canary deployments and A/B testing with percentage-based routing.
Circuit Breaking
Built-in circuit breaker plugin for resilience and fault tolerance in upstream communication.
Kubernetes Integration
Native Kubernetes ingress controller (APISIX Ingress) for Kubernetes-native API gateway deployments.
Observability
Native integrations with Prometheus, Zipkin, SkyWalking, Datadog, and OpenTelemetry for metrics and tracing.
Service Discovery
Dynamic service discovery via Kubernetes, Nacos, Consul, Eureka, and DNS for upstream resolution.
Scroll within the panel for all 10 ·
Semantic Vocabularies 1
JSON-LD contexts give the data shared meaning across APIs. We profile them because semantics are what let a machine reconcile 'customer' here with 'customer' somewhere else.
JSON-LD contexts and semantic vocabularies used across these APIs.
Apache Apisix Context
JSON-LDSpectral Rules 2
Governance rulesets we run against this provider's specs — the automated checks behind parts of the score. Profiling them makes the quality bar explicit and re-runnable, not a matter of opinion.
Apache APISIX API Rules
SPECTRALApache APISIX API Rules
SPECTRALJSON Schema 10
Standalone JSON Schema definitions describe the data models behind the API. We profile them so the shapes are validatable on their own — useful long after a single request is forgotten.
Standalone JSON Schema definitions for this provider's data models.
Apache APISIX Consumer Group
JSON SCHEMAApache APISIX Consumer
JSON SCHEMAApache APISIX Global Rule
JSON SCHEMAApache APISIX Plugin Config
JSON SCHEMAApache APISIX Route
JSON SCHEMAApache APISIX Secret
JSON SCHEMAApache APISIX Service
JSON SCHEMAApache APISIX SSL
JSON SCHEMAApache APISIX Stream Route
JSON SCHEMAApache APISIX Upstream
JSON SCHEMAScroll within the panel for all 10 ·
JSON Structure 10
JSON Structure captures the data shapes in a form built for tooling — a complement to JSON Schema that keeps the model machine-legible.
JSON Structure definitions describing this provider's data shapes.
Consumer Group Structure
JSON STRUCTUREConsumer Structure
JSON STRUCTUREGlobal Rule Structure
JSON STRUCTUREPlugin Config Structure
JSON STRUCTURERoute Structure
JSON STRUCTURESecret Structure
JSON STRUCTUREService Structure
JSON STRUCTURESsl Structure
JSON STRUCTUREStream Route Structure
JSON STRUCTUREUpstream Structure
JSON STRUCTUREScroll within the panel for all 10 ·
Examples 10
Real request and response payloads are what turn a spec from abstract into obvious — and they're one of the twelve things an agent needs to call an API correctly on the first try.
Example request and response payloads for these APIs.
Consumer Example
EXAMPLEConsumer Group Example
EXAMPLEGlobal Rule Example
EXAMPLEPlugin Config Example
EXAMPLERoute Example
EXAMPLESecret Example
EXAMPLEService Example
EXAMPLESsl Example
EXAMPLEStream Route Example
EXAMPLEUpstream Example
EXAMPLEScroll within the panel for all 10 ·
Security Posture 3
Authentication, domain security, vulnerability disclosure, and trust-center signals — the evidence that a provider takes security seriously enough to document it. We profile it because you can't govern what you can't see.
Authentication, domain security, vulnerability disclosure, and trust-center signals.
Agentic Access 1
An x-agentic-access contract marks which operations are safe for an agent to run on its own and which need a human in the loop. It is the difference between an API an agent can use and one it can use safely.
Recommended x-agentic-access execution contracts for AI agents.
Use Cases 6
What developers actually build with this provider — captured so the catalogue answers 'what is this for', not just 'what does this expose'.
What developers build with this provider.
API Gateway for Microservices
Route and manage traffic to microservices with dynamic configuration and plugin-based policies.
Authentication and Authorization
Apply JWT, key-auth, LDAP, OIDC, and OAuth2 plugins to protect APIs without changing upstream services.
Rate Limiting and Throttling
Apply global or per-consumer rate limits to protect upstream services from traffic spikes.
Canary and Blue-Green Deployments
Use traffic splitting to gradually roll out new API versions with percentage-based routing.
Kubernetes Ingress Controller
Replace traditional ingress controllers with APISIX for rich API gateway features in Kubernetes.
API Observability
Collect metrics, traces, and logs via native integrations with Prometheus, Zipkin, and SkyWalking.
Integrations 7
Pre-built integrations with other platforms tell you where this provider already fits in a stack.
Pre-built integrations with other platforms and tools.
Kubernetes
Native Kubernetes Ingress controller (APISIX Ingress Controller) for cloud-native deployments.
Prometheus
Native Prometheus metrics exporter for monitoring route, consumer, and upstream metrics.
Zipkin and Jaeger
Distributed tracing integration for request flow analysis across microservices.
OpenTelemetry
OpenTelemetry plugin for standardized telemetry data export.
etcd
etcd backend for distributed configuration storage and cluster synchronization.
Nacos and Consul
Dynamic service discovery integrations for automatic upstream resolution.
HashiCorp Vault
Secret management integration for storing API credentials and TLS certificates.
Scroll within the panel for all 7 ·
Resources
Every other property we hold for Apache APISIX — documentation, portals, status pages, policies, and corporate surface — grouped by the job it does, following the integrator's arc from getting started to running in production.
Get Started 1
Portal, sign-up, and the first successful call
Documentation 11
Reference material describing how the API behaves
Scroll within the panel for all 11 ·
Agent Surfaces 1
MCP servers, agent skills, and machine-readable catalogs
Design & Contract 3
Pagination, idempotency, versioning, errors, and events
Build 2
SDKs, sample code, and the tooling you integrate with
Access & Security 3
Authentication, authorization, and security posture
Operate 3
Status, limits, changes, and where to get help
Company 2
The organization behind the API
← All providers · Data indexed from github.com/api-evangelist/apache-apisix · machine-readable index on apis.io