What is API Gateway?
API Gateway is Google’s serverless service for API management. It enables creating secure, scalable APIs for Cloud Functions, Cloud Run, and other backend services without operating your own infrastructure.
With OpenAPI specifications, you define your API endpoints, authentication, and backend routing. API Gateway automatically handles scaling, SSL termination, and monitoring.
Core Features
- Serverless API hosting without infrastructure management
- OpenAPI 2.0 specification for API definition
- Integrated authentication with API keys, JWT, and OAuth
- Automatic SSL and custom domains
- Monitoring and logging via Cloud Monitoring
Typical Use Cases
Cloud Functions APIs: Create REST APIs for serverless functions with integrated authentication and rate limiting. Ideal for microservices and event-driven architectures.
Cloud Run Services: Front container-based services with unified API management. API Gateway enables versioning and canary deployments.
Mobile and Web Backends: Secure APIs for mobile apps and SPAs with Firebase Authentication integration.
Benefits
- No infrastructure to manage
- Automatic scaling to millions of requests
- Simple integration with GCP services
- Pay-per-use with no minimum costs
Integration with innFactory
As a Google Cloud partner, innFactory supports you with API Gateway: API design, OpenAPI specifications, authentication, and integration with backend services.
Available Tiers & Options
Standard
- Fully serverless
- Automatic scaling
- OpenAPI specification
- Integrated authentication
- Fewer features than Apigee
- Limited transformations
Typical Use Cases
Technical Specifications
Frequently Asked Questions
What is API Gateway?
API Gateway is a serverless Google Cloud service for creating, deploying, and managing APIs. It acts as an entry point for backend services like Cloud Functions or Cloud Run and provides authentication, rate limiting, and monitoring without your own infrastructure.
How does API Gateway differ from Apigee?
API Gateway is designed for simpler use cases and is fully serverless. Apigee offers enterprise features like API monetization, developer portals, and advanced analytics. For cloud-native APIs, API Gateway is ideal; for complex enterprise API strategies, Apigee is the better choice.
Which backends does API Gateway support?
API Gateway supports Cloud Functions, Cloud Run, App Engine, and Cloud Endpoints as backend services. HTTP backends in Compute Engine or GKE can be connected via Cloud Run as a proxy.
How is API Gateway billed?
API Gateway is billed per API call. The first 2 million calls per month are free. Beyond that, there are low costs per million calls. There are no minimum fees or upfront payments.
What authentication methods does API Gateway support?
API Gateway supports API keys, JWT tokens (including Firebase Auth and Google OAuth), and service account authentication. CORS configuration and request/response validation are also integrated.
