Kong Gatewayvsopenwhisk
Two self-hosted projects, compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.
| Kong Gateway | openwhisk | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 82/100 | 67/100 |
| Rank in category | #1 of 39 in API Gateway | #2 of 7 in Serverless |
| GitHub stars | 44 314 | 6 803 |
| Stars, last 30 days | +128 | +5 |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 3 | 0 |
| Latest release | 3.9.4 · 12 Oct 2026 | — |
| Setup | Moderate | Advanced |
| Official Docker image | No | Yes |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Main language | Lua | Scala |
Which one should you pick?
Kong Gateway scores 82/100 against 67/100 for openwhisk, so it is the safer default.
Kong Gateway ships more often: 3 stable releases in the past year, against 0 for openwhisk.
If you want the quickest setup, Kong Gateway is easier to run; openwhisk needs more configuration.
Kong Gateway is growing faster right now (+128 stars in 30 days).
Kong Gateway details →openwhisk details →