# Kong Gateway vs vector

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

| | Kong Gateway | vector |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 82/100 ✓ | 79/100 |
| Rank in category | #1 of 39 in API Gateway | #1 of 7 in Data Pipelines |
| GitHub stars | 44 314 ✓ | 22 778 |
| Stars, last 30 days | +128 | +173 ✓ |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 3 | 7 ✓ |
| Latest release | 3.9.4 · 12 Oct 2026 | v0.60.0 · 19 Oct 2026 ✓ |
| Setup | Moderate | Moderate ✓ |
| Official Docker image | No | Yes ✓ |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MPL-2.0 |
| Main language | Lua | Rust |

## Which one should you pick?

Kong Gateway scores 82/100 against 79/100 for vector, so it is the safer default.

vector ships more often: 7 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)
- [vector](https://selfhost.directory/project/vector) (markdown: https://selfhost.directory/project/vector.md)

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