Kong Gatewayvsnetbird
Two self-hosted projects, compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.
| Kong Gateway | netbird | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 82/100 | 81/100 |
| Rank in category | #1 of 39 in API Gateway | #2 of 56 in VPN |
| GitHub stars | 44 319 | 30 310 |
| Stars, last 30 days | +129 | +807 |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 3 | 40 |
| Latest release | 3.9.4 · 12 Oct 2026 | v0.81.5 · 26 Oct 2026 |
| Setup | Moderate | Moderate |
| Official Docker image | No | Yes |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Other |
| Main language | Lua | Go |
Which one should you pick?
Kong Gateway scores 82/100 against 81/100 for netbird, so it is the safer default.
netbird ships more often: 40 stable releases in the past year, against 3 for Kong Gateway.
netbird is growing faster right now (+807 stars in 30 days).
Kong Gateway details →netbird details →