Exploring Developer Tier APIM with Self-hosted Gateway for Greater Flexibility
reve outlines the use of Azure API Management’s Developer tier alongside a self-hosted gateway, highlighting its premium features, limitations, and scenarios where this setup can improve control and minimize service interruptions.
Developer Tier APIM + Self-hosted Gateway: Architecture and Considerations
Azure API Management (APIM) offers multiple service tiers tailored to different use cases. The Developer tier, while typically intended for non-production scenarios, includes access to many features usually reserved for premium plans—such as Virtual Network (VNet) injection, Microsoft Entra integration, private endpoint support, and a self-hosted gateway option.
Feature Comparison of APIM Tiers
Here is an overview of selected features across APIM tiers:
| Feature | Consumption | Developer | Basic | Basic v2 | Standard | Standard v2 | Premium | Premium v2 (preview) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Microsoft Entra integration | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| VNet injection support | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Private endpoint support | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Self-hosted gateway | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | No |
| API analytics | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Built-in cache | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Management over Git | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | No |
| Azure Monitor & Log Analytics request logs | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| And more… |
See the official APIM feature comparison for a full list.
Limitations of Developer Tier
- No SLA Guarantee: The Developer tier is designed for non-production/evaluation
- Service Interruptions: It may be disrupted by maintenance events (such as OS upgrades)
- Intended for Testing: Not recommended for mission-critical workloads
Combining with Self-hosted Gateway
To increase control over API gateway availability while leveraging the Developer tier’s rich features, you can deploy a self-hosted gateway on your own Azure VM or infrastructure. This approach allows:
- Direct management of underlying infrastructure (e.g., schedule your own VM updates)
- Greater flexibility over maintenance schedules—helpful in avoiding outages during business hours
- Continued access to Developer tier “premium” features
Example Use Case
- Set up APIM Developer tier in Azure
- Provision an Azure VM
- Install and configure the self-hosted APIM gateway on the VM
- Manage VM updates according to business needs
This hybrid setup gives teams improved infrastructure control compared to using Developer tier APIM alone, at a lower cost than Premium, although still without a formal SLA.
Conclusion
Combining Azure API Management Developer tier with a self-hosted gateway can provide more flexibility and control for non-production or cost-sensitive environments, especially when direct infrastructure management is needed. Be mindful, however, that this architecture is not covered by Microsoft’s production SLA, and is best suited for dev/test workloads or evaluation scenarios.
Author: reve
| Original post: [Feature-based comparison of Azure API Management tiers | Microsoft Learn](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/api-management/api-management-features) |
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