Ambassador vs Reqres: What are the differences?

# Key Differences Between Ambassador and Reqres

Ambassador and Reqres are two powerful tools that serve different purposes in the realm of online applications. Understanding the key distinctions between the two can help developers make informed decisions when choosing the appropriate tool for their specific needs.

1. **Purpose**: Ambassador is an API gateway built on the Envoy Proxy that focuses on managing incoming traffic to microservices and providing features like rate limiting, authentication, and monitoring. On the other hand, Reqres is a hosted mock API service that allows developers to simulate various HTTP responses for testing their applications.
   
2. **Deployment**: Ambassador is typically deployed within a Kubernetes cluster to manage traffic within the cluster or from external sources. In contrast, Reqres is deployed as a standalone service that can be accessed globally via its endpoint, making it convenient for implementing mock APIs in any development environment.

3. **Features**: Ambassador offers advanced features like traffic routing, load balancing, and transformation of requests and responses, making it suitable for complex microservices architectures. In comparison, Reqres focuses primarily on mocking responses for API endpoints, simplifying the testing process for developers.

4. **Scalability**: Ambassador can scale horizontally by adding more instances to handle increases in traffic and maintain high availability for microservices. In contrast, Reqres is designed to handle mock API requests and responses, making it less scalable in terms of managing real-time traffic loads.

5. **Authentication**: Ambassador provides robust authentication mechanisms like OAuth, JWT, and API key validation to secure API endpoints and manage access control effectively. Conversely, Reqres does not offer built-in authentication features since its primary purpose is to mock API responses for testing scenarios.

6. **Monitoring**: Ambassador includes built-in monitoring and tracing capabilities through integration with tools like Prometheus and Jaeger, allowing developers to gain insights into traffic patterns and performance metrics. On the other hand, Reqres does not provide monitoring functionalities since it is focused on simulating responses for testing purposes.

In Summary, understanding the key differences between Ambassador and Reqres can help developers choose the right tool based on their specific requirements and use cases.