Amazon API Gateway is an entirely managed service designed to simplify the process for developers to create, publish, maintain, monitor, and secure APIs, regardless of scale. Serving as the "entrance" for applications, APIs facilitate access to data, business logic, or services from the backend. Through API Gateway, developers can build both RESTful and WebSocket APIs, which are essential for enabling real-time two-way communication in applications. This service supports both containerized and serverless environments as well as web applications. It efficiently manages the complexities of processing hundreds of thousands of simultaneous API requests, handling traffic management, CORS, authorization and access control, throttling, monitoring, and versioning. Moreover, there are no upfront fees or minimum charges associated with API Gateway; instead, you only pay for the API calls and data transfer you utilize. With a tiered pricing structure, as your API usage grows, you can benefit from reduced costs, making it a cost-effective solution for businesses of all sizes. Additionally, the simplicity and scalability of API Gateway allow developers to focus more on building features rather than managing infrastructure.