What is Amazon API Gateway?
Amazon API Gateway is a fully managed service for creating, publishing, and managing APIs at any scale. The service automatically handles traffic management, authorization, throttling, monitoring, and API versioning.
API Gateway supports three API types: HTTP APIs for cost-effective proxy scenarios, REST APIs with an extended feature set, and WebSocket APIs for bidirectional real-time communication. Amazon API Gateway Portal additionally provides a managed way to expose APIs internally or externally through a dedicated developer portal with documentation and a try-it feature.
Core Features
- Three API Types: HTTP APIs (cost-effective), REST APIs (feature-rich), WebSocket APIs (real-time communication).
- Lambda Integration: Direct connection to serverless functions without managing your own servers.
- Authorization: IAM, Amazon Cognito, JWT validation, and Lambda Authorizer.
- Throttling: Configurable rate limits at the account and client level.
- Caching: Server-side response caching to reduce latency (REST APIs).
- API Gateway Portal: Managed developer portal with an API catalog, interactive try-it feature, and documentation.
Typical Use Cases
Serverless Backend: API Gateway as a frontend for Lambda functions. No infrastructure management, automatic scaling, and usage-based pricing make this combination ideal for variable workloads.
Microservices Gateway: Central entry point for microservices architectures with routing to different backend services based on URL paths and unified authentication.
Real-time Applications: WebSocket APIs for chat applications, live dashboards, or collaboration tools with persistent connections between client and server.
Benefits
- Automatic scaling without manual capacity planning.
- Significantly cheaper HTTP API pricing model compared to REST APIs for simple proxy scenarios.
- Native integration with AWS services like Lambda, DynamoDB, and S3.
- GDPR-compliant operation possible when using EU regions.
Integration with innFactory
As an AWS Reseller, innFactory supports you with Amazon API Gateway: API strategy, architecture design, serverless backend development, and migration of existing APIs.
Typical Use Cases
Technical Specifications
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between REST API and HTTP API?
According to AWS's price list, HTTP APIs are roughly 71% cheaper (for example, $1.00 versus $3.50 per million requests) but offer fewer features. REST APIs additionally support API keys, request validation, server-side caching, mock integrations, and AWS WAF integration. For simple proxy scenarios that don't need these extras, HTTP APIs are usually the better choice.
How does Amazon API Gateway scale?
API Gateway scales automatically with incoming load, without the need to plan capacity in advance. Account- and region-level limits apply to requests per second and can be increased on request from AWS.
Can I use API Gateway with Lambda?
Yes, API Gateway is one of the standard building blocks for serverless architectures with AWS Lambda. Lambda functions can be integrated directly as a backend without managing your own servers.
What does Amazon API Gateway cost?
HTTP APIs start at $1.00 per million requests, REST APIs cost $3.50 per million requests, and WebSocket APIs are billed by messages and connection minutes. Additional charges apply for data transfer and optional caching (REST APIs only); check the official AWS pricing page for current rates.
What is the Amazon API Gateway Portal?
API Gateway Portal is a fully managed way to offer an API developer portal without running your own static website or third-party solution. It provides API products, an interactive try-it feature, and documentation, and can integrate with Amazon Cognito for access management, among other options.
Note: All product information on this page has been compiled with care, but is provided without guarantee and may be outdated or incomplete. Cloud services evolve rapidly — features, pricing, SLAs, and availability change frequently. Authoritative and up-to-date information can only be found on the official product page of AWS (official documentation). This page does not represent an offer by AWS.