# Kong Gateway vs RabbitMQ

> Two self-hosted projects, compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.

| | Kong Gateway | RabbitMQ |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 82/100 ✓ | 77/100 |
| Rank in category | #1 of 39 in API Gateway | #3 of 12 in Message Broker |
| GitHub stars | 44 318 ✓ | 13 949 |
| Stars, last 30 days | +132 ✓ | +78 |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 3 | 14 ✓ |
| Latest release | 3.9.4 · 12 Oct 2026 | v4.3.7 · 20 Oct 2026 ✓ |
| Setup | Moderate | Moderate ✓ |
| Official Docker image | No | Yes ✓ |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Other |
| Main language | Lua | JavaScript |

## Which one should you pick?

Kong Gateway scores 82/100 against 77/100 for RabbitMQ, so it is the safer default.

RabbitMQ ships more often: 14 stable releases in the past year, against 3 for Kong Gateway.

## Details

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

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