Kong Gatewayvsopenvpn
Two self-hosted projects, compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.
| Kong Gateway | openvpn | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 82/100 | 76/100 |
| Rank in category | #1 of 39 in API Gateway | #4 of 56 in VPN |
| GitHub stars | 44 314 | 14 737 |
| Stars, last 30 days | +128 | +137 |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 3 | 14 |
| Latest release | 3.9.4 · 12 Oct 2026 | v2.7.8 · 6 Oct 2026 |
| Setup | Moderate | Moderate |
| Official Docker image | No | No |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Other |
| Main language | Lua | C |
Which one should you pick?
Kong Gateway scores 82/100 against 76/100 for openvpn, so it is the safer default.
openvpn ships more often: 14 stable releases in the past year, against 3 for Kong Gateway.
Kong Gateway details →openvpn details →