# Kong Gateway vs SafeLine

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

| | Kong Gateway | SafeLine |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 82/100 ✓ | 81/100 |
| Rank in category | #1 of 39 in API Gateway | #1 of 3 in Web Application Firewall |
| GitHub stars | 44 316 ✓ | 23 071 |
| Stars, last 30 days | +130 | +401 ✓ |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 3 | 11 ✓ |
| Latest release | 3.9.4 · 12 Oct 2026 | v9.4.3 · 21 Oct 2026 ✓ |
| Setup | Moderate | Moderate ✓ |
| Official Docker image | No | Yes ✓ |
| License | Apache-2.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Main language | Lua | Go |

## Which one should you pick?

Kong Gateway scores 82/100 against 81/100 for SafeLine, so it is the safer default.

SafeLine ships more often: 11 stable releases in the past year, against 3 for Kong Gateway.

SafeLine is growing faster right now (+401 stars in 30 days).

## Details

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

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