--- title: API Gateways - an overview | daily.dev description: API Gateways let teams build microservices with different technology stacks while exposing a unified, coherent interface to clients. Common cross-cutting... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/api-gateways---an-overview-4xwuysi09 twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: API Gateways - an overview | daily.dev og:description: API Gateways let teams build microservices with different technology stacks while exposing a unified, coherent interface to clients. Common cross-cutting... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/api-gateways---an-overview-4xwuysi09 og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/4xWuYSi09.png og:image:alt: API Gateways - an overview og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # API Gateways - an overview **[Code4IT](https://daily.dev/sources/code4it)** · 5 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary API Gateways let teams build microservices with different technology stacks while exposing a unified, coherent interface to clients. Common cross-cutting concerns like documentation, authentication, error handling, and logging can live at the gateway level. The piece covers API composition patterns, highlights Ocelot as a simple open-source .NET Core gateway, discusses a GUID-based workaround for hiding internal APIs, and explains SSL termination as a way to offload decryption work from backend servers to the gateway. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### What is SSL termination and why would I put it at the API gateway level? SSL termination moves decryption of encrypted traffic from backend servers to a load balancer or API gateway sitting in front of them. Since decryption is resource-intensive, offloading it reduces work on backend servers, which then receive plain, decrypted messages. It also simplifies certificate management since certificates only need to be installed on the exposed endpoint rather than every internal server. _daily.dev surfaces practical architecture explainers like this for teams designing gateway layers._ ### What are the three ways to handle API composition when combining data from multiple backend services? Three approaches exist: have the client call multiple APIs directly and merge results itself, build a single API endpoint that aggregates all needed data, or use a gateway that composes calls to backend services and returns a unified response. Client-side composition is slowest, a single aggregating API suits monoliths, and gateway-based composition fits microservice architectures where services return minimal data. _developers weighing microservice data-fetching strategies can track these patterns on daily.dev._ ### What does Ocelot offer as an API gateway for .NET Core applications? Ocelot is an open-source API gateway for .NET Core that handles routing, authentication, authorization, logging, and load balancing. Routes and customizations are configured through a JSON file, making it a straightforward way to experiment with gateway functionality before adopting a more complex paid solution like Azure API Management or Amazon API Gateway. _daily.dev helps .NET developers comparing gateway tools like Ocelot stay informed._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [API Gateway in Microservices: A Complete Guide for Developers](https://daily.dev/posts/api-gateway-in-microservices-a-complete-guide-for-developers-ona7cjfwl) · C\# Corner · 3 upvotes · 0 comments - [API Gateway: The Control Hub of Microservices](https://daily.dev/posts/api-gateway-the-control-hub-of-microservices-9mdu8omwf) · ITNEXT · 3 upvotes · 0 comments - [Medium](https://daily.dev/posts/medium-gs0nsmt6c) · Medium · 2 upvotes · 0 comments - [The Gateway Is a Tired Concept, Because Gateways Are About Power](https://daily.dev/posts/the-gateway-is-a-tired-concept-because-gateways-are-about-power-e1ukdrrnf) · API Evangelist · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#azure](https://daily.dev/tags/azure), [#microservices](https://daily.dev/tags/microservices), [#api-gateway](https://daily.dev/tags/api-gateway) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/api-gateways---an-overview-4xwuysi09) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"API Gateways - an overview","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/api-gateways---an-overview-4xwuysi09","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/api-gateways---an-overview-4xwuysi09"},"datePublished":"2026-10-04T13:07:39.265Z","dateModified":"2026-10-04T13:18:09.620Z","description":"API Gateways let teams build microservices with different technology stacks while exposing a unified, coherent interface to clients. 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