Kong Gatewayvsnginx-love
Two self-hosted projects, compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.
| Kong Gateway | nginx-love | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 82/100 | 50/100 |
| Rank in category | #1 of 39 in API Gateway | #3 of 3 in Web Application Firewall |
| GitHub stars | 44 316 | 312 |
| Stars, last 30 days | +130 | — |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 3 | 1 |
| Latest release | 3.9.4 · 12 Oct 2026 | v4.01 · 31 Oct 2025 |
| Setup | Moderate | Moderate |
| Official Docker image | No | No |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Main language | Lua | Typescript |
Which one should you pick?
Kong Gateway scores 82/100 against 50/100 for nginx-love, so it is the safer default.
Kong Gateway ships more often: 3 stable releases in the past year, against 1 for nginx-love.
Kong Gateway is growing faster right now (+130 stars in 30 days).
Kong Gateway details →nginx-love details →