Kong Gatewayvsnginx-ui
Two self-hosted projects, compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.
| Kong Gateway | nginx-ui | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 82/100 | 74/100 |
| Rank in category | #1 of 39 in API Gateway | #3 of 12 in Web Servers |
| GitHub stars | 44 317 | 11 680 |
| Stars, last 30 days | +131 | +143 |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 3 | 37 |
| Latest release | 3.9.4 · 12 Oct 2026 | v2.9.1 · 22 Oct 2026 |
| Setup | Moderate | Easy |
| Official Docker image | No | Yes |
| License | Apache-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Main language | Lua | Go |
Which one should you pick?
Kong Gateway scores 82/100 against 74/100 for nginx-ui, so it is the safer default.
nginx-ui ships more often: 37 stable releases in the past year, against 3 for Kong Gateway.
If you want the quickest setup, nginx-ui is easier to run; Kong Gateway needs more configuration.
Kong Gateway details →nginx-ui details →