Ambassador Edge Stack
Ambassador Edge Stack is a self-hosted API gateway that routes traffic from a Kubernetes cluster edge to Kubernetes services.
What Ambassador Edge Stack is
Ambassador Edge Stack is a self-hosted API gateway that routes traffic from a Kubernetes cluster edge to Kubernetes services. Kubernetes provides persistence, reliability, availability, and scaling, while Envoy handles routing and proxying. Teams can install it manually or with Helm, and developers can manage deployments through Kubernetes resources or annotations. Canary deployments let developers control the share of production traffic sent to a service version. Supported protocols include HTTP, HTTPS, HTTP/2, HTTP/3, gRPC, and gRPC-Web. Incoming requests can be authenticated through a custom authentication service, OAuth/OpenID Connect, or JWT, and a third-party rate limit service can check requests before routing. A diagnostics service helps investigate configuration issues, and the gateway can route external traffic into an Istio service mesh. Gravitee federation can import Edge Stack APIs for shared governance and policies, a common developer portal, and aggregated analytics across Edge Stack and Gravitee Gateway. The product is designed for cloud-native organizations where developers have operational responsibility, as well as developers and operators. An Enterprise license is required; licensing information is available by contacting the company.
Good
- Canary deployments let developers control traffic shares
- Supports HTTP, HTTPS, HTTP/2, HTTP/3, and gRPC
- Supports OAuth/OpenID Connect and JWT authentication
- Includes a diagnostics service
Watch out
- An Enterprise license is required
- Licensing information requires contacting the company
- Federation agent needs access to specified cluster resources
Who it suits
It is intended for cloud-native organizations using Kubernetes, particularly teams where developers share operational responsibility with operators. It may suit teams that want gateway traffic controls and Gravitee federation across APIs.
Verdict
Ambassador Edge Stack combines Kubernetes edge routing with traffic controls, authentication, and diagnostics. Teams considering Gravitee federation should account for the agent’s required cluster permissions and contact the company about licensing.
The facts
Each one read from Ambassador Edge Stack's own pages, with the date it was checked.
What it does
- Analytics
- Federation aggregates reporting and usage analytics across Edge Stack and Gravitee Gateway.checked 9 Oct 2026
- Architecture
- It uses Kubernetes for persistence, reliability, availability, and scaling, and Envoy for traffic routing and proxying.checked 10 Oct 2026
- Authentication
- It supports incoming request authentication through a custom authentication service, OAuth/OpenID Connect, or JWT.checked 10 Oct 2026
- Availability
- An Ambassador team article says Edge Stack capabilities are free to explore, but the page does not specify product plan prices or trial length.checked 9 Oct 2026
- Deployment
- The product can be installed manually or with Helm.checked 10 Oct 2026
- Developer portal
- Developers can discover, subscribe to, and test Edge Stack and Gravitee APIs from the same developer portal.checked 9 Oct 2026
- Developer workflow
- Developers can manage service deployments through Kubernetes resources or annotations without asking Operations to add services to the mesh.checked 10 Oct 2026
- Diagnostics
- It includes a diagnostics service for debugging configuration issues.checked 10 Oct 2026
- Federation
- Gravitee says Edge Stack APIs can be imported into Gravitee for unified governance, a shared developer portal, and centralized cross-gateway analytics.checked 10 Oct 2026
- Governance and security
- Federation applies consistent access, security, and policy rules across Gravitee-managed and Edge Stack-managed APIs.checked 9 Oct 2026
- Integration
- The Edge Stack federation agent can be run with Docker Compose or installed with Helm.checked 9 Oct 2026
- Integrations
- It integrates with Istio as an edge proxy routing external traffic to the internal service mesh.checked 10 Oct 2026
- Intended users
- The product is designed for cloud-native organizations where developers have operational responsibility for services, and for both developers and operators.checked 10 Oct 2026
- Kubernetes permissions
- The federation agent requires access to Edge Stack Mappings, Filters, FilterPolicies, and Secrets in the cluster.checked 9 Oct 2026
- Pricing
- The documentation says an Enterprise license is required and directs users to contact the company for licensing information.checked 10 Oct 2026
- Product
- Edge Stack is a cloud-native API gateway that runs in Kubernetes.checked 9 Oct 2026
- Product role
- Ambassador Edge Stack is a Kubernetes edge gateway that routes traffic from the edge of a cluster to Kubernetes services.checked 10 Oct 2026
- Protocols
- It supports gRPC and HTTP/2 routing.checked 10 Oct 2026
- Rate limiting
- It can check incoming requests with a third-party rate limit service before routing them.checked 10 Oct 2026
- Security and compliance
- Gravitee’s Trust Center lists GDPR, HIPAA, ISO/IEC 27001, PCI DSS v4.0.0, and SOC 2 Type 2 compliance resources.checked 10 Oct 2026
- Support
- Gravitee says Ambassador customers can keep using the same support channels and teams, with ongoing improvements planned.checked 9 Oct 2026
The company
- Company
- Gravitee says it was founded in 2015 by developers.checked 9 Oct 2026
- Founded
- 2015checked 28 Sep 2026
- Headquarters
- Denver, Colorado, United Stateschecked 28 Sep 2026
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