Kong Gatewayvsunleash
Two self-hosted projects, compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.
| Kong Gateway | unleash | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 82/100 | 75/100 |
| Rank in category | #1 of 39 in API Gateway | #1 of 8 in Feature Flags |
| GitHub stars | 44 317 | 13 912 |
| Stars, last 30 days | +131 | +90 |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 3 | 15 |
| Latest release | 3.9.4 · 12 Oct 2026 | v8.3.0 · 27 Oct 2026 |
| Setup | Moderate | Easy |
| Official Docker image | No | Yes |
| License | Apache-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Main language | Lua | Typescript |
Which one should you pick?
Kong Gateway scores 82/100 against 75/100 for unleash, so it is the safer default.
unleash ships more often: 15 stable releases in the past year, against 3 for Kong Gateway.
If you want the quickest setup, unleash is easier to run; Kong Gateway needs more configuration.
Kong Gateway details →unleash details →