head to head · open source
fastapi vs gateway
fastapi has 104,566 GitHub stars, 10,179 forks, 78 open issues and last shipped yesterday. gateway has 3,125 stars, 938 forks, 761 open issues and last shipped yesterday. fastapi leads on adoption by 3,246% (104,566 vs 3,125 stars). fastapi is written in Python under MIT; gateway is written in Go under Apache-2.0. fastapi has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, gateway 30%. fastapi was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
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
| fastapi | gateway | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 105K | ★ 3.1K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | Go |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 10K | ⑂ 938 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick fastapi if
- You weight community size — 105K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick gateway if
- You want the gateway feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and gateway fits your workflow better
About fastapi
FastAPI framework, high performance, easy to learn, fast to code, ready for production Documentation : Source Code : FastAPI is a modern, fast (high performance), web framework for building APIs with Python based on standard Python type hints. The key features are: Fast : Very high performance, on par with NodeJS and Go (thanks to Starlette and Pydantic). One of the fastest Python frameworks available. Fast to code : Increase the speed to develop features by about 200% to 300%. Fewer bugs : Reduce about 40% of human (developer) induced errors. Intuitive : Great editor support. Completion everywhere. Less time…
read the full fastapi overview →
About gateway
Envoy Gateway Envoy Gateway is an open source project for managing Envoy Proxy as a standalone or Kubernetes based application gateway. Gateway API resources are used to dynamically provision and configure the managed Envoy Proxies. Documentation [Blog][blog] introducing Envoy Gateway. Goals Quickstart to use Envoy Gateway in a few simple steps. Roadmap Compatibility Matrix Contact envoy gateway announce: Join our mailing list to receive important announcements. Slack: Join the [Envoy Slack workspace][] if you're not already a member. Otherwise, use the [Envoy Gateway channel][] to start collaborating with the…
read the full gateway overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is fastapi or gateway more popular?
fastapi has 104,566 GitHub stars and gateway has 3,125. fastapi has the larger community by that measure.
Are fastapi and gateway free?
Both are open source. fastapi is licensed under MIT and gateway under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between fastapi and gateway?
fastapi is written in Python and gateway in Go. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, fastapi or gateway?
Choose fastapi if you want the larger community (104,566 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose gateway if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.