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API gateway by use case

Five buyer use cases, five different right answers. The decision-tree is short.

The five branches

Partner-facing public APIs need productisation, monetisation, partner portal, and edge protection. Internal microservices need policy-at-scale, identity, and mesh integration. LLM passthrough needs token observability and semantic cache. Mobile BFF needs response aggregation and edge latency. Hybrid regulated needs sovereignty and air-gap support.

Picking on price alone fails

The cheapest gateway for the wrong use case is more expensive than the right gateway at full list. Pick on use case first, then negotiate.

Verified 20 June 2026 Oliver Wakefield-Smith, Founder, Digital Signet we mark quote when a vendor does not publish, and stop.