head to head · open source
kong vs architect
kong has 44,348 GitHub stars, 5,238 forks, 200 open issues and last shipped 15 days ago. architect has 2,627 stars, 106 forks, 61 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. kong leads on adoption by 1,588% (44,348 vs 2,627 stars). kong is written in Lua under Apache-2.0; architect is written in JavaScript under Apache-2.0. kong has attracted 12% as many forks as stars, architect 4%. kong 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
| kong | architect | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 44K | ★ 2.6K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Lua | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-10-19 | 2026-09-05 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.2K | ⑂ 106 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick kong if
- You weight community size — 44K 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 architect if
- You want the architect feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and architect fits your workflow better
About kong
[![][kong logo]][kong url] [![Build Status][badge action image]][badge action url] Kong or Kong Gateway is a cloud native, platform agnostic, scalable API 𖧹 LLM 𖧹 MCP Gateway distinguished for its high performance and extensibility via plugins. It also provides advanced AI traffic capabilities with multi LLM support, semantic security, MCP traffic security and analytics, and more. By providing functionality for proxying, routing, load balancing, health checking, authentication (and more), Kong serves as the central layer for orchestrating microservices or conventional API traffic and agentic LLM and MCP as…
About architect
Build ultra scalable database backed web apps on AWS serverless infrastructure with full local, offline workflows, and more. Full documentation found at: Requirements Platforms: Linux, macOS, Windows Architect runtime: Node.js 18+ Function runtimes & package managers: Node.js (optional): supported versions npm (optional): 10+ yarn (optional): 1+ Python (optional): supported versions pip3 (optional) Ruby (optional): supported versions bundle (optional) Additional function runtimes: Java, .NET, Golang, Lambda runtime layers (optional): supported versions Installation Make sure you have at least Node.js version 18…
read the full architect overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is kong or architect more popular?
kong has 44,348 GitHub stars and architect has 2,627. kong has the larger community by that measure.
Are kong and architect free?
Both are open source. kong is licensed under Apache-2.0 and architect under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between kong and architect?
kong is written in Lua and architect in JavaScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, kong or architect?
Choose kong if you want the larger community (44,348 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose architect if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.