KrakenD doesn’t try to do too much. That’s a feature, not a bug. Other gateways make complexity the default—you end up needing UIs just to manage their bloat. KrakenD is the opposite: well-documented, simple, powerful. It just works.
Challenge: Taming API Chaos Across Teams
As Neo4j’s internal APIs rapidly multiplied across development teams, the complexity of managing secure, scalable access grew unsustainable. The existing API gateway setup lacked the flexibility needed to address authentication workflows consistently across services. Neo4j required a north-south API architecture that was lightweight, extensible, and enterprise-grade.
Why Neo4J chose KrakenD
KrakenD stood out for doing less but doing it better. Unlike bloated platforms that push admin GUIs and visual workflows, KrakenD offers a declarative configuration, no-nonsense interface, and a plugin model built for real engineering teams. Neo4j chose KrakenD for its:
- Simplicity and speed of configuration
- Lightweight performance footprint
- Flexibility to build custom plugins
- Excellent documentation and responsive support
Implementation: Lightweight Meets Scalable
Neo4j implemented KrakenD behind a GCP Application Load Balancer, handling both frontend and backend traffic over a unified domain. KrakenD uses HTTP path prefixes to route requests to backend services. Before routing, a KrakenD plugin integrates with Neo4j’s auth service to dynamically issue access tokens tailored to each request context.
The stack includes:
- Observability via OpenTelemetry + Prometheus, exported to Google Cloud Trace and Monitoring
- Security via custom token issuance per request
- Scalability via stateless KrakenD nodes that decouple routing from orchestration
Outcome: 9 Months of Friction-less Scale
Nine months into deployment, KrakenD is a stable backbone of Neo4j’s internal API infrastructure. The architecture has scaled cleanly with zero bottlenecks. As a result of this success, Neo4j is now evaluating KrakenD to replace its public-facing API gateway, with full confidence in KrakenD’s ability to outperform its current provider.
