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Kong AI Gateway vs Microsoft Agent 365

Kong AI Gateway

Gateway that governs LLM, MCP, and agent-to-agent traffic

Microsoft Agent 365

Microsoft 365 control plane to discover, manage, govern, and secure AI agents

Short answer

Kong AI Gateway is a gateway for LLM, MCP, and A2A traffic; Microsoft Agent 365 is a Microsoft 365 control plane for agents built and run elsewhere.⁠Source 1, Source 2, Source 3, Source 4, Source 5 Kong’s data plane nodes check traffic against policy; Agent 365 keeps an agent registry, uses Entra agent identities, and is licensed per user.⁠Source 2, Source 6, Source 7, Source 8

By Blocks.ai teamLast checked

Where each one sits

Six layers of running AI agents at a company, and what each product’s own public sources say it covers.

These aren’t the same kind of product

Where they overlap
Both can limit which tools agents use and record agent activity: Kong per caller at the gateway, Agent 365 tenant-wide.⁠Source 3, Source 9, Source 10, Source 11, Source 12
Where they differ
Kong also routes LLM traffic to model providers; the Agent 365 SDK doesn’t call models.⁠Source 5, Source 13 Agent 365 keeps an organization-wide agent registry; Kong’s, in Konnect Catalog, is in beta.⁠Source 6, Source 14, Source 15
Running both
Microsoft says Agent 365 works with agents built or acquired from third-party sources.⁠Source 3 Neither vendor publicly documents using the two together.
Public sources · checked 2 October 2026
  • Offered
  • Preview
  • Not included
  • Not publicly documented

Kong AI Gateway

  • Build agents: Not publicly documented
  • Host and run agents: Not publicly documented
  • Identity and access: OfferedPer-agent allow or deny lists⁠Source 10
  • Registry and governance: PreviewKonnect Catalog agents⁠Source 15
  • Traffic between agents, tools, and models: OfferedGateway for LLM, MCP, A2A⁠Source 1
  • Agents across organizations: Not publicly documented

Microsoft Agent 365

  • Build agents: Not includedUse your chosen framework⁠Source 4
  • Host and run agents: Not includedYou host your agent⁠Source 5
  • Identity and access: OfferedEntra Agent ID⁠Source 7
  • Registry and governance: OfferedAgent registry in admin center⁠Source 6
  • Traffic between agents, tools, and models: PreviewTooling Gateway for MCP servers⁠Source 16
  • Agents across organizations: Not publicly documented

At a glance

TopicKong AI GatewayMicrosoft Agent 365
What it isA gateway that governs LLM, MCP, and A2A traffic, with shared authentication, observability, and policy features.⁠Source 1, Source 2A Microsoft 365 service that provides a centralized control plane to discover, manage, govern, and secure AI agents.⁠Source 3
Where agents runAt their own upstream URLs, which the gateway proxies to.⁠Source 10 In 2.x, data plane nodes you run carry the traffic.⁠Source 2Wherever the agent already runs, such as Azure, AWS, Google Cloud, or on premises.⁠Source 5 Premium capabilities may vary by agent type and platform.⁠Source 8
IdentityAn agent can require an API key or OpenID Connect from callers, and can set an allow or deny list, checked once the caller is identified.⁠Source 10Agent identities live in Microsoft Entra Agent ID.⁠Source 7 The inventory also lists agents without one.⁠Source 14
Pricing modelAI Management Plus from $25 a month plus usage; control planes are $200 a month hybrid, $500 Dedicated Cloud, or $25 serverless.⁠Source 17 Enterprise is custom, billed annually.⁠Source 17Lists at $15 per user per month, or in Microsoft 365 E7.⁠Source 8 Basic identity and inventory come with Microsoft Cloud subscriptions; enterprise customers need Microsoft 365 E5, or E3 with the Defender and Purview suites.⁠Source 8
Generally availableVersion 2.0 announced generally available on 1 September 2026.⁠Source 9 The agent inventory in Konnect Catalog is in beta.⁠Source 15Since 1 May 2026, for the Commercial segment.⁠Source 18 Registry sync and multi-tenant management are in preview.⁠Source 19, Source 20

What each one is

Kong AI Gateway

Kong AI Gateway is one gateway for LLM, MCP, and agent-to-agent (A2A) traffic, with shared authentication, observability, and policy features.⁠Source 1, Source 2 In 2.x, an agent is added as an AI Agent entity that exposes it at a gateway endpoint and can carry policies.⁠Source 10, Source 21

Microsoft Agent 365

Microsoft Agent 365 is a Microsoft 365 service that provides a centralized control plane to discover, manage, govern, and secure AI agents.⁠Source 3 Admins can manage agents through its registry in the Microsoft 365 admin center, Microsoft Entra, and Microsoft Purview.⁠Source 18

The differences that matter

  1. Where policy is enforced

    Kong AI Gateway

    In 2.x, data plane nodes you run receive LLM, MCP, and A2A traffic, check it against policy, and forward what’s allowed.⁠Source 2

    Microsoft Agent 365

    Through Microsoft 365 and Entra: Conditional Access on agent identities, policy templates, and an organization-wide block (only in Copilot Chat for SharePoint and Foundry agents).⁠Source 7, Source 22, Source 23

    Kong’s control plane is never in the path of user data traffic.⁠Source 2 Agent 365 routes MCP servers you register through its Tooling Gateway, in preview.⁠Source 16

  2. Agent registry

    Kong AI Gateway

    In 2.x, agents are added as entities scoped to one gateway instance; Konnect Catalog’s organization-wide agent inventory is in beta, not for production.⁠Source 2, Source 10, Source 15

    Microsoft Agent 365

    Agent 365’s registry lists Microsoft and non-Microsoft agents; agents built outside Microsoft 365 channels and Entra Agent ID need extra steps to appear.⁠Source 14, Source 24

    In Kong’s Catalog beta, agents can be added by pasting an A2A card.⁠Source 15 Agent 365 registry sync, in preview, imports agents from platforms such as Amazon Bedrock.⁠Source 19

  3. Identity and access

    Kong AI Gateway

    The gateway can require callers to use an API key or OpenID Connect, then check a per-agent allow or deny list.⁠Source 10

    Microsoft Agent 365

    Agent identities live in Microsoft Entra Agent ID, managed with Conditional Access, permission grants and consent, and lifecycle operations.⁠Source 7

    Kong’s lists check the caller’s AI Consumer identity.⁠Source 10, Source 25 Each Entra agent identity needs a sponsor, a business representative accountable for the agent.⁠Source 7

For security teams

What a security review asks, answered from each vendor’s public documentation.

TopicKong AI GatewayMicrosoft Agent 365
Network exposureIn 2.x, data plane nodes you run proxy to each agent’s URL and authenticate to the control plane over mTLS.⁠Source 2, Source 10Preview notifications and your own MCP servers need endpoints Agent 365 reaches.⁠Source 16, Source 26 Agent 365’s private networking is not publicly documented.
IdentityCan require an API key, or OpenID Connect through Okta, Azure AD, Google, or another OIDC provider, before routing.⁠Source 10, Source 27Agent identities are Microsoft Entra service principals, managed with Conditional Access and consent; the inventory also lists agents without one.⁠Source 7, Source 14
Access changes and revocationEach agent has an enabled switch; Request Termination or deny lists block callers.⁠Source 10, Source 28, Source 29 Nodes keep their last config without Konnect.⁠Source 2Block agents organization-wide (Copilot Chat only for SharePoint and Foundry agents), or disable an Entra blueprint’s agents in one operation.⁠Source 7, Source 23
Audit trailA2A audit logs: task IDs, method calls, latencies, errors.⁠Source 11 Konnect audit logs (Enterprise): webhook delivery, kept 7 days in Konnect.⁠Source 17, Source 30Activity from supported agents appears in Defender, Purview, and the admin center; Agent 365 keeps it 30 days.⁠Source 4, Source 12
Compliance2.2+ FIPS mode: FIPS 140-3 algorithms only, not NIST-validated.⁠Source 31 Kong Inc. lists ISO 27001 and SOC 2 (report under NDA).⁠Source 32Not yet a Core Online Service.⁠Source 12 Microsoft announced it meets reviewed FedRAMP High controls; authorization is pending.⁠Source 3

Full comparison

18 criteria in five groups. Every cell links to its source, or says no public source answers it.

Kong AI Gateway and Microsoft Agent 365 compared on 18 criteria
Kong AI GatewayMicrosoft Agent 365
What it is
What it is and who it’s forOne gateway that governs LLM, MCP, and A2A traffic.⁠Source 1, Source 2 All three run through one data plane, with shared authentication, observability, and policy features.⁠Source 2A Microsoft 365 service that provides a centralized control plane to discover, manage, govern, and secure AI agents, for IT and security leaders.⁠Source 3, Source 24
MaturityVersion 2.0 announced generally available on 1 September 2026; 2.2.0 released 30 September 2026.⁠Source 9, Source 33 Konnect Catalog’s agent inventory is in beta.⁠Source 15Generally available since 1 May 2026 for the Commercial segment.⁠Source 18 Registry sync and multi-tenant management are in preview.⁠Source 19, Source 20
Control
Agent registry and discoveryIn 2.x, each AI Agent entity, A2A or plain HTTP, is scoped to one gateway instance.⁠Source 2, Source 10 Konnect Catalog’s agent inventory is in beta.⁠Source 15Agent registry in the Microsoft 365 admin center: one inventory of Microsoft and non-Microsoft agents, including agents without an Entra agent identity.⁠Source 6, Source 14
Identity and access controlAn agent can require API key or OpenID Connect authentication before routing.⁠Source 10 An allow or deny list of identities can apply before traffic reaches it.⁠Source 10Agent identities live in Microsoft Entra Agent ID, managed with Conditional Access, permission grants, and consent.⁠Source 7 The inventory also lists agents without one.⁠Source 14
Ownership, policy, and revocationAgent policies include input validation, logging, and rate limits.⁠Source 10 Kong’s AI PII Sanitizer scrubs requests to AI models: a Plus add-on, included on Enterprise.⁠Source 17, Source 34Entra agent identities need a sponsor.⁠Source 7 Admins can block agents (SharePoint and Foundry ones only in Copilot Chat), approve activations, and apply templates.⁠Source 22, Source 23
Audit log and observabilityA2A audit logs: task IDs, method calls, latencies, errors.⁠Source 11 A2A telemetry can go to Konnect and OpenTelemetry; bodies go to Konnect only if you opt in.⁠Source 2, Source 10Supported agents’ activity shows in Defender, Purview, and the admin center; Agent 365 keeps it 30 days.⁠Source 4, Source 12 Purview audit of agent activity needs E7 or Agent 365.⁠Source 3
Connection
How agents connectEach agent is an upstream URL the gateway proxies to.⁠Source 10 In 2.x, data plane nodes you run forward allowed traffic and stay connected to Konnect.⁠Source 2The SDK works with agents on Azure, AWS, Google Cloud, or on premises.⁠Source 4 Notifications, in preview, go to a messaging endpoint URL you register.⁠Source 26
Agents across organizationsNot publicly documented (checked 2 October 2026)A published agent can be added to a customer tenant with tenant-local Entra identities.⁠Source 7 Managing agents across tenants you administer is in preview.⁠Source 20
Protocol supportA2A over JSON-RPC and REST bindings.⁠Source 10 MCP revisions 2025-03-26, 2025-06-18, 2025-11-25, and 2026-07-28 (from version 2.1).⁠Source 35Tenant-wide tool control; your own MCP servers in preview.⁠Source 3, Source 16 Microsoft’s separate Foundry and Copilot Studio support A2A; Agent 365 itself doesn’t document it.⁠Source 36, Source 37
Frameworks, models, and clouds supportedKong says it governs A2A traffic without changing how agents are built.⁠Source 38 Agents that don’t use A2A can pass through as plain HTTP.⁠Source 10Microsoft and third-party agents.⁠Source 3 SDK docs name frameworks such as LangChain, CrewAI, and the OpenAI Agents SDK, and agents keep their own host.⁠Source 5, Source 19
Operations
Deployment options and data residency2.x: a Konnect-managed control plane in a region you choose, data plane nodes you run.⁠Source 2, Source 39 Kong also sells Kong-managed Dedicated Cloud and serverless gateways.⁠Source 17, Source 40, Source 41Honors the EU Data Boundary; the observability service stores customer content in the tenant’s default geography.⁠Source 12 Self-hosting it is not publicly documented.
Compliance attestationsFrom 2.2, FIPS mode uses only FIPS 140-3 approved algorithms; not submitted for NIST validation.⁠Source 31 Kong lists ISO 27001, SOC 2, and PCI DSS for Kong Inc.⁠Source 32Not yet a Core Online Service; runs on SOC- and ISO-audited services.⁠Source 12 Microsoft announced it meets reviewed FedRAMP High controls; authorization is pending.⁠Source 3
Support and SLAKonnect targets 99.9% availability; Dedicated Cloud Gateways list a 99.99% SLA, serverless gateways none.⁠Source 17 Enterprise support SLAs: 30 min to 2 hours.⁠Source 17No specific SLA for the Frontier preview program.⁠Source 42 An SLA or support plan specific to the generally available service is not publicly documented.
Time and effort to get runningA quickstart script creates a Konnect control plane and a local Docker data plane.⁠Source 13 To route A2A traffic, create an AI Agent entity and attach policies.⁠Source 21Enterprise customers need Microsoft 365 E5, or E3 with Defender Suite and Purview Suite, and at least one user with an Agent 365 license.⁠Source 8, Source 18
Pricing model and public pricesPlus: from $25 a month plus usage; per control plane, $200 hybrid, $500 Dedicated Cloud, $25 serverless.⁠Source 17 Enterprise: custom, billed annually.⁠Source 17Per user, not per agent: lists at $15 a month standalone, or in Microsoft 365 E7.⁠Source 8 Microsoft Cloud subscribers get foundational capabilities at no extra cost.⁠Source 8
Building
Agent building toolsKong says it can generate MCP tools and servers from Kong-managed APIs.⁠Source 1 Tools for building agents in Kong AI Gateway are not publicly documented.Microsoft says the Agent 365 SDK isn’t an agent-building framework.⁠Source 4 For low-code building, its docs point to Microsoft’s separate Copilot Studio.⁠Source 43
Model accessOne API to providers including OpenAI, Anthropic, Amazon Bedrock, Gemini, Azure AI, Mistral, and Ollama, with credentials you supply.⁠Source 2, Source 13, Source 44Microsoft says the SDK doesn’t call or select models; the agent keeps making its own model calls.⁠Source 4, Source 5
Integrations and ecosystemA Policies Hub of policies and integrations.⁠Source 28 AI Vault works with AWS, GCP, Azure, and HashiCorp Vault secrets backends.⁠Source 2Launched with preintegrated partner agents and agents built on partner agent factories.⁠Source 45, Source 46 Work IQ MCP tools, in preview, cover Mail, Calendar, Teams, and more.⁠Source 47

Which to choose

Choose Kong AI Gateway if

  • You want one gateway for LLM, MCP, and A2A traffic, with shared authentication, observability, and policy features.⁠Source 1, Source 2
  • You want per-agent access lists, input validation, and rate limits applied at a gateway that proxies to your agents.⁠Source 10
  • You want to run the data plane yourself (2.x), or a fully self-hosted AI gateway from Kong’s separate Gateway Enterprise offering.⁠Source 2, Source 17
  • You want one API to many model providers, such as OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, and Mistral, using credentials you supply.⁠Source 2, Source 13, Source 44

Choose Microsoft Agent 365 if

  • Your agents are in Microsoft’s separate Copilot Studio or Microsoft Foundry, which Microsoft says can integrate with Agent 365 for some scenarios.⁠Source 19, Source 48
  • You want agent identities in Microsoft Entra, managed with the same Conditional Access, consent, and lifecycle controls used elsewhere in Entra.⁠Source 7
  • You want one registry for Microsoft and non-Microsoft agents that also counts agents created or managed outside Agent 365.⁠Source 6, Source 14
  • You want named accountability: each Entra agent identity needs a sponsor, and admins can block or delete agents without owners.⁠Source 6, Source 7

Questions buyers ask

Do they support MCP and A2A?

Kong AI Gateway detects A2A over JSON-RPC and REST and accepts four MCP revisions.⁠Source 10, Source 35 Agent 365 can control tool access tenant-wide, including Microsoft MCP servers; registering your own is in preview.⁠Source 3, Source 16 A2A is documented for Microsoft’s separate Copilot Studio and Microsoft Foundry, not Agent 365.⁠Source 36, Source 37

Which identity providers do they work with?

Kong’s OpenID Connect option can authenticate users through Okta, Azure AD, Google, or any OIDC-compliant provider; callers can also use API keys.⁠Source 10, Source 27 Agent 365 agent identities live in Microsoft Entra; agents can authenticate users with Entra ID, which can federate to another provider.⁠Source 7, Source 49

Can either one connect agents across organizations?

Kong AI Gateway proxies to agents registered as upstream URLs.⁠Source 10 A cross-organization trust model for Kong is not publicly documented. A published agent can join a customer’s tenant through a multitenant Entra blueprint.⁠Source 7 Cross-organization agent-to-agent calls through Agent 365 are not publicly documented.

How is each one priced?

Kong’s AI Management Plus starts at $25 a month plus usage, with $200 a month per hybrid control plane; Enterprise is custom.⁠Source 17 Agent 365 lists at $15 per user per month standalone or comes in Microsoft 365 E7, and agents aren’t licensed.⁠Source 8

How we compare

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Sources

54 public sources, each with the date we checked it. Every one opens in a new tab.

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