# Kong Gateway vs nforwardauth

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

| | Kong Gateway | nforwardauth |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 82/100 ✓ | 44/100 |
| Rank in category | #1 of 39 in API Gateway | #28 of 40 in Authentication |
| GitHub stars | 44 317 ✓ | 159 |
| Stars, last 30 days | +131 | — |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 3 ✓ | 1 |
| Latest release | 3.9.4 · 12 Oct 2026 ✓ | v1.5.1 · 10 Jul 2026 |
| Setup | Moderate | Moderate ✓ |
| Official Docker image | No | Yes ✓ |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Main language | Lua | Rust |

## Which one should you pick?

Kong Gateway scores 82/100 against 44/100 for nforwardauth, so it is the safer default.

Kong Gateway ships more often: 3 stable releases in the past year, against 1 for nforwardauth.

Kong Gateway is growing faster right now (+131 stars in 30 days).

## Details

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

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