Kong GatewayvsTailscale
Two self-hosted projects, compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.
| Kong Gateway | Tailscale | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 82/100 | 84/100 |
| Rank in category | #1 of 39 in API Gateway | #1 of 56 in VPN |
| GitHub stars | 44 314 | 38 231 |
| Stars, last 30 days | +128 | +1 426 |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 3 | 14 |
| Latest release | 3.9.4 · 12 Oct 2026 | v1.104.4 · 27 Oct 2026 |
| Setup | Moderate | Moderate |
| Official Docker image | No | No |
| License | Apache-2.0 | BSD-3-Clause |
| Main language | Lua | Go |
Which one should you pick?
Tailscale scores 84/100 against 82/100 for Kong Gateway, so it is the safer default.
Tailscale ships more often: 14 stable releases in the past year, against 3 for Kong Gateway.
Tailscale is growing faster right now (+1 426 stars in 30 days).
Kong Gateway details →Tailscale details →