head to head · open source
Apache APISIX vs Scalar
Apache APISIX has 17,135 GitHub stars, 2,946 forks, 235 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Scalar has 16,136 stars, 937 forks, 68 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Apache APISIX leads on adoption by 6% (17,135 vs 16,136 stars). Apache APISIX is written in Lua under Apache-2.0; Scalar is written in TypeScript under MIT. Apache APISIX has attracted 17% as many forks as stars, Scalar 6%. Scalar was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (api), 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.
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Side by side
| Apache APISIX | Scalar | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 17K | ★ 16K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Lua | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.9K | ⑂ 937 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Apache APISIX if
- You weight community size — 17K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Lua
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Scalar if
- You want the Scalar feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Scalar fits your workflow better
About Apache APISIX
Apache APISIX is a dynamic, real time, high performance API gateway and AI gateway built on NGINX and etcd. It provides rich traffic management features, such as load balancing, dynamic upstream, canary release, circuit breaking, authentication, and observability. The project lives in the Lua and LuaJIT ecosystem, and it uses the Apache 2.0 license.
read the full Apache APISIX overview →
About Scalar
Scalar is open source API documentation and testing platform. It lives in TypeScript ecosystem, with Vue in topics, and targets REST API, OpenAPI, Swagger, API client, docs, http client, reference work. License is MIT. It gives interactive API reference from OpenAPI/Swagger documents, plus built in API testing tool. It also gives offline first API client built for OpenAPI.
read the full Scalar overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Apache APISIX or Scalar more popular?
Apache APISIX has 17,135 GitHub stars and Scalar has 16,136. Apache APISIX has the larger community by that measure.
Are Apache APISIX and Scalar free?
Both are open source. Apache APISIX is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Scalar under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Apache APISIX and Scalar?
Apache APISIX is written in Lua and Scalar in TypeScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Apache APISIX or Scalar?
Choose Apache APISIX if you want the larger community (17,135 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose Scalar if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.