# Kong Gateway vs SimpleX Chat

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

| | Kong Gateway | SimpleX Chat |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 82/100 ✓ | 74/100 |
| Rank in category | #1 of 39 in API Gateway | #4 of 110 in Chat |
| GitHub stars | 44 317 ✓ | 19 612 |
| Stars, last 30 days | +131 | +142 ✓ |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 3 | 12 ✓ |
| Latest release | 3.9.4 · 12 Oct 2026 ✓ | v7.0.4 · 3 Oct 2026 |
| Setup | Moderate ✓ | Moderate |
| Official Docker image | No | Yes ✓ |
| License | Apache-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Main language | Lua | Haskell |

## Which one should you pick?

Kong Gateway scores 82/100 against 74/100 for SimpleX Chat, so it is the safer default.

SimpleX Chat ships more often: 12 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)
- [SimpleX Chat](https://selfhost.directory/project/simplex-chat) (markdown: https://selfhost.directory/project/simplex-chat.md)

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