Kong GatewayvsTypesense
Two self-hosted projects, compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.
| Kong Gateway | Typesense | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 82/100 | 79/100 |
| Rank in category | #1 of 39 in API Gateway | #6 of 41 in Search Engines |
| GitHub stars | 44 314 | 27 062 |
| Stars, last 30 days | +128 | +476 |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 3 | 4 |
| Latest release | 3.9.4 · 12 Oct 2026 | v30.2 · 19 Apr 2026 |
| Setup | Moderate | Easy |
| Official Docker image | No | Yes |
| License | Apache-2.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Main language | Lua | C |
Which one should you pick?
Kong Gateway scores 82/100 against 79/100 for Typesense, so it is the safer default.
Typesense ships more often: 4 stable releases in the past year, against 3 for Kong Gateway.
If you want the quickest setup, Typesense is easier to run; Kong Gateway needs more configuration.
Typesense is growing faster right now (+476 stars in 30 days).
Kong Gateway details →Typesense details →