Kong GatewayvsZulip
Two self-hosted projects, compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.
| Kong Gateway | Zulip | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 82/100 | 82/100 |
| Rank in category | #1 of 39 in API Gateway | #1 of 110 in Chat |
| GitHub stars | 44 316 | 26 133 |
| Stars, last 30 days | +130 | +190 |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 3 | 6 |
| Latest release | 3.9.4 · 12 Oct 2026 | 12.3 · 21 Sept 2026 |
| Setup | Moderate | Moderate |
| Official Docker image | No | Yes |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Main language | Lua | Python |
Which one should you pick?
Kong Gateway and Zulip score the same (82/100), so the choice comes down to the details below.
Zulip ships more often: 6 stable releases in the past year, against 3 for Kong Gateway.
Kong Gateway details →Zulip details →