Kong Gatewayvslivekit
Two self-hosted projects, compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.
| Kong Gateway | livekit | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 82/100 | 80/100 |
| Rank in category | #1 of 39 in API Gateway | #2 of 118 in Media Server |
| GitHub stars | 44 319 | 21 902 |
| Stars, last 30 days | +129 | +803 |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 3 | 19 |
| Latest release | 3.9.4 · 12 Oct 2026 | v1.13.11 · 25 Oct 2026 |
| Setup | Moderate | Advanced |
| Official Docker image | No | No |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Main language | Lua | Go |
Which one should you pick?
Kong Gateway scores 82/100 against 80/100 for livekit, so it is the safer default.
livekit ships more often: 19 stable releases in the past year, against 3 for Kong Gateway.
If you want the quickest setup, Kong Gateway is easier to run; livekit needs more configuration.
livekit is growing faster right now (+803 stars in 30 days).
Kong Gateway details →livekit details →