One front door for every API
auth, rate limits and versioning in one place
Once a business runs more than one backend service, auth and rate limiting either get built once properly or copy-pasted into every service slightly differently. We build the API gateway layer that handles it once, so new services inherit security and limits instead of reimplementing them.
What it is
An API gateway sits in front of your backend services as the single entry point every request passes through, handling the things every service otherwise needs separately: verifying who is calling, checking they have not exceeded their rate limit, routing the request to the right service, and logging what happened. The alternative, each service implementing its own auth and rate limiting, works until the second service, at which point the two implementations quietly drift apart and a bug fix in one does not reach the other.
When you need it (and when you do not)
You need this once you have more than one backend service and auth or rate limiting logic exists in more than one place, or once external partners or a mobile app need API access with limits that differ from your own internal usage. It is also the right build when you need to version an API, letting an old mobile app version keep working against v1 while new clients use v2, without every service having to handle that branching logic itself.
You do not need a dedicated gateway for a single backend service with one type of client, that is adding a layer of infrastructure to solve a problem you do not have. The tell that you have outgrown a simple setup is auth code duplicated across services, or a rate limit that is enforced inconsistently because each service checks it differently.
How we build it
We use Traefik for most setups, it is lightweight, integrates well with Docker-based deployments, and handles routing, TLS and basic rate limiting without much operational overhead. For more complex plugin needs, custom auth flows or detailed request transformation, Kong’s plugin ecosystem is the better fit. Authentication is verified once at the gateway and passed downstream as a trusted signal, so individual services do not each re-implement token validation. Rate limits are tuned per client and per endpoint based on actual usage, not a single number applied everywhere, a reporting endpoint and a checkout endpoint do not deserve the same limit. Versioning is handled by routing rule, old paths continue reaching the service version that supports them while new development happens behind a new version path, which is what let us keep a factory’s existing integrations alive while rebuilding the ERP system behind them without anyone’s integration breaking on cutover day.
What to watch
A gateway becomes a single point of failure by design, which means its own reliability matters more than any one service behind it; we build health checks and failover into the initial setup specifically so a gateway issue does not take down every service at once. The other real cost is that every new service now needs to be registered and configured at the gateway level, an extra step that is easy to skip under deadline pressure and then becomes a security gap nobody notices until an audit. We document the registration process clearly and keep it simple enough that skipping it is not the easier option. Lock-in is low with Traefik or Kong, both are open source with portable configuration; it rises if you adopt a cloud provider’s proprietary managed gateway instead, which we flag as a tradeoff before recommending it.
Observability at the gateway deserves particular attention because it sees every request before any backend service does, which makes it the best place to catch a problem early: a spike in error responses from one service, or an unusual traffic pattern from one client, shows up at the gateway before it becomes a wider incident anywhere else.
Price and timeline
| Scope | Price | Timeline |
|---|---|---|
| 2-3 services, auth and rate limiting | from $1,500 | 2 to 3 weeks |
| Full gateway, versioning, failover | from $4,000 | 3 to 4 weeks |
Related
Built as part of custom development. Often paired with webhook and event bus infrastructure and monitoring and observability to watch the gateway itself. See it in practice behind the factory ERP recovery and secure infrastructure for a Telegram Mini App. Tell us how many services need a front door: get in touch.
FAQ
How much does an API gateway cost?
A gateway in front of two or three services with auth and rate limiting starts at $1,500. A fuller setup with versioning, detailed logging and failover across many services runs $3,000 to $7,000.
How long does it take?
2 to 4 weeks for most setups: routing rules, auth integration, rate limit tuning against real traffic patterns, and a careful cutover so existing clients do not notice the change except that things got more reliable.
What is the stack?
Traefik or Kong for most setups, both open source and self-hostable, or a cloud provider's managed API gateway when you are already committed to that ecosystem. We pick based on your infrastructure, not a default.
Do we need this if we only have one backend service?
Usually not yet. A gateway earns its cost once there are multiple services, multiple client types (web, mobile, partners), or rate limiting and auth logic duplicated in more than one place.
Who owns the gateway configuration?
You do. Traefik and Kong are open source and the configuration lives in your infrastructure, version-controlled alongside the rest of your deployment setup.