Kong GatewayvsOTOBO
Two self-hosted projects, compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.
| Kong Gateway | OTOBO | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 82/100 | 54/100 |
| Rank in category | #1 of 39 in API Gateway | #5 of 9 in Helpdesk |
| GitHub stars | 44 318 | 338 |
| Stars, last 30 days | +128 | +0 |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 3 | 2 |
| Latest release | 3.9.4 · 12 Oct 2026 | rel-11_0_15 · 4 Feb 2026 |
| Setup | Moderate | Advanced |
| Official Docker image | No | Yes |
| License | Apache-2.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Main language | Lua | Perl |
Which one should you pick?
Kong Gateway scores 82/100 against 54/100 for OTOBO, so it is the safer default.
Kong Gateway ships more often: 3 stable releases in the past year, against 2 for OTOBO.
If you want the quickest setup, Kong Gateway is easier to run; OTOBO needs more configuration.
Kong Gateway is growing faster right now (+128 stars in 30 days).
Kong Gateway details →OTOBO details →