# Kong Gateway vs nginx-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).

## Details

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

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