EASYFundamentalssenior engineer
API Gateway vs Load Balancer
Explain the differences between an API Gateway and a Load Balancer. When would you use each?
Estimated Time: 15 minutes
#fundamentals#networking#architecture
Solution Overview
API Gateway handles API management (auth, rate limiting, routing) while Load Balancer distributes traffic across servers for availability and performance.
Hints to Get Started
1
Consider the OSI model layers
2
Think about what happens to the request at each component
When To Use
api gateway
- •Microservices architecture
- •Need authentication/authorization
- •API versioning
- •Rate limiting
load balancer
- •High availability
- •Horizontal scaling
- •SSL termination
- •Geographic distribution
Can Use Both
Often used together - Load Balancer in front of multiple API Gateway instances
Key Differences
- •API Gateway: Application layer (L7), handles auth, rate limiting, request transformation
- •Load Balancer: Network/Transport layer (L4/L7), distributes traffic, health checks