head to head · open source
SafeLine vs Apache APISIX
SafeLine has 23,154 GitHub stars, 1,592 forks, 69 open issues and last shipped 12 days ago. Apache APISIX has 17,289 stars, 2,989 forks, 235 open issues and last shipped yesterday. SafeLine leads on adoption by 34% (23,154 vs 17,289 stars). SafeLine is written in Go under GPL-3.0; Apache APISIX is written in Lua under Apache-2.0. SafeLine has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, Apache APISIX 17%. Apache APISIX was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (api-gateway), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| SafeLine | Apache APISIX | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 23K | ★ 17K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Lua |
| Last push | 2026-10-22 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.6K | ⑂ 3.0K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick SafeLine if
- You weight community size — 23K stars and counting
- You want the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Apache APISIX if
- You want the Apache APISIX feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Lua
- You evaluated both and Apache APISIX fits your workflow better
About SafeLine
SafeLine Make your web apps secure 🏠 Website 📖 Docs 🔍 Live Demo 🙋♂️ Discord 中文版 🏆 Achievements 👋 INTRODUCTION SafeLine is a self hosted WAF(Web Application Firewall) to protect your web apps from attacks and exploits. A web application firewall helps protect web apps by filtering and monitoring HTTP traffic between a web application and the Internet. It typically protects web apps from attacks such as SQL injection , XSS , code injection , os command injection , CRLF injection , ldap injection , xpath injection , RCE , XXE , SSRF , path traversal , backdoor , bruteforce , http flood , bot abused , among…
read the full SafeLine overview →
About Apache APISIX
Apache APISIX API Gateway ｜ AI Gateway Apache APISIX is a dynamic, real time, high performance API Gateway. APISIX API Gateway provides rich traffic management features such as load balancing, dynamic upstream, canary release, circuit breaking, authentication, observability, and more. You can use it to handle traditional north south traffic, as well as east west traffic between services. It can also be used as a Kubernetes ingress controller. Table of Contents Why APISIX AI Gateway Get Started Features Benchmark Community User Stories Who Uses APISIX API Gateway? Logos Acknowledgments License Why APISIX APISIX…
read the full Apache APISIX overview →
More in Developer Tools
Related comparisons
More API Development & Testing projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the API Development & Testing field.
Frequently asked questions
Is SafeLine or Apache APISIX more popular?
SafeLine has 23,154 GitHub stars and Apache APISIX has 17,289. SafeLine has the larger community by that measure.
Are SafeLine and Apache APISIX free?
Both are open source. SafeLine is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Apache APISIX under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between SafeLine and Apache APISIX?
SafeLine is written in Go and Apache APISIX in Lua. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, SafeLine or Apache APISIX?
Choose SafeLine if you want the larger community (23,154 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose Apache APISIX if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.