Kong GatewayvsMail-in-a-Box
Two self-hosted projects, compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.
| Kong Gateway | Mail-in-a-Box | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 82/100 | 72/100 |
| Rank in category | #1 of 39 in API Gateway | #3 of 16 in Mail Server |
| GitHub stars | 44 320 | 15 446 |
| Stars, last 30 days | +130 | +27 |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 3 | 4 |
| Latest release | 3.9.4 · 12 Oct 2026 | v77 · 26 Sept 2026 |
| Setup | Moderate | Moderate |
| Official Docker image | No | No |
| License | Apache-2.0 | CC0-1.0 |
| Main language | Lua | Python |
Which one should you pick?
Kong Gateway scores 82/100 against 72/100 for Mail-in-a-Box, so it is the safer default.
Mail-in-a-Box ships more often: 4 stable releases in the past year, against 3 for Kong Gateway.
Kong Gateway is growing faster right now (+130 stars in 30 days).
Kong Gateway details →Mail-in-a-Box details →