head to head · open source
fastapi vs kpt
fastapi has 102,409 GitHub stars, 9,906 forks, 78 open issues and last shipped 5 days ago. kpt has 1,894 stars, 265 forks, 324 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. fastapi leads on adoption by 5,307% (102,409 vs 1,894 stars). fastapi is written in Python under MIT; kpt is written in Go under Apache-2.0. fastapi has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, kpt 14%. kpt was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (openapi), 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 13541 open source comparisons
Side by side
| fastapi | kpt | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 102K | ★ 1.9K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-14 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 9.9K | ⑂ 265 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick fastapi if
- You weight community size — 102K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick kpt if
- You want the kpt 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 kpt fits your workflow better
About fastapi
FastAPI is an MIT licensed, high performance Python web framework for building APIs with standard Python type hints, aimed at Python developers and teams that need production ready HTTP services with automatic OpenAPI documentation.
read the full fastapi overview →
About kpt
kpt is an Apache 2.0, Go based, package centric toolchain that automates the authoring, transformation, validation, and delivery of Kubernetes configuration as data, aimed at platform engineers and infrastructure teams that manage Kubernetes platforms and KRM driven infrastructure at scale.
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 fastapi or kpt more popular?
fastapi has 102,409 GitHub stars and kpt has 1,894. fastapi has the larger community by that measure.
Are fastapi and kpt free?
Both are open source. fastapi is licensed under MIT and kpt under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between fastapi and kpt?
fastapi is written in Python and kpt 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 kpt?
Choose fastapi if you want the larger community (102,409 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose kpt if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.