# Kong Gateway vs NATS

> Two self-hosted projects, compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.

| | Kong Gateway | NATS |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 82/100 ✓ | 80/100 |
| Rank in category | #1 of 39 in API Gateway | #2 of 12 in Message Broker |
| GitHub stars | 44 317 ✓ | 20 954 |
| Stars, last 30 days | +131 | +192 ✓ |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 3 | 18 ✓ |
| Latest release | 3.9.4 · 12 Oct 2026 | v2.14.9 · 26 Oct 2026 ✓ |
| Setup | Moderate | Moderate ✓ |
| Official Docker image | No | Yes ✓ |
| 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 NATS, so it is the safer default.

NATS ships more often: 18 stable releases in the past year, against 3 for Kong Gateway.

## Details

- [Kong Gateway](https://selfhost.directory/project/kong-gateway) (markdown: https://selfhost.directory/project/kong-gateway.md)
- [NATS](https://selfhost.directory/project/nats) (markdown: https://selfhost.directory/project/nats.md)

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Source: https://selfhost.directory/compare/kong-gateway-vs-nats