Kong Gateway and ngrok are two popular API gateways that aim to simplify the process of deploying APIs and providing a better developer experience. Kong Gateway has an open-source package based on Nginx for self-hosting basic API gateway functionality, while ngrok's developer-defined API gateway is built into every ngrok agent and the ngrok Cloud Edge. Both products claim to improve the developer experience by simplifying the process of moving from state A to goal B, but they differ in their approach. Kong Gateway requires more complex networking configurations and deployments, whereas ngrok abstracts away these complexities with its platform automatically adding global load balancing capabilities and enforcing JWT-based authentication at the edge. Additionally, ngrok offers a simplified provisioning process, straightforward configuration using familiar tools, and repeatable processes, which improves the developer experience in two big ways: simplified provisioning and straightforward configuration. Overall, both products aim to provide better DX for API developers, but their approaches and benefits differ.