head to head · open source
Docker vs kong
Docker has 72,113 GitHub stars, 19,233 forks, 3,902 open issues and last shipped yesterday. kong has 44,158 stars, 5,210 forks, 200 open issues and last shipped 13 days ago. Docker leads on adoption by 63% (72,113 vs 44,158 stars). Docker is written in Go under Apache-2.0; kong is written in Lua under Apache-2.0. Docker has attracted 27% as many forks as stars, kong 12%. Docker 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.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| Docker | kong | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 72K | ★ 44K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Lua |
| Last push | 2026-09-19 | 2026-09-07 |
| Forks | ⑂ 19K | ⑂ 5.2K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Docker if
- You weight community size — 72K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick kong if
- You want the kong 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 kong fits your workflow better
About Docker
Docker, published here as the Moby Project, is the open source collection of container toolkit components and the framework for assembling them into custom container based systems, built for engineers, integrators and enthusiasts who want to modify, hack and build on container code rather than buy a commercially supported product.
read the full Docker overview →
About kong
Kong (also known as Kong Gateway) is an open source, cloud native, platform agnostic API, LLM, and MCP gateway, licensed under Apache 2.0, built for platform, DevOps, and AI engineering teams that need a single high performance layer to route, secure, and observe both conventional API traffic and agentic LLM traffic.
More in Infrastructure & Operations
Related comparisons
More Cloud Infrastructure Management projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Cloud Infrastructure Management field.
Frequently asked questions
Is Docker or kong more popular?
Docker has 72,113 GitHub stars and kong has 44,158. Docker has the larger community by that measure.
Are Docker and kong free?
Both are open source. Docker is licensed under Apache-2.0 and kong under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Docker and kong?
Docker is written in Go and kong 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, Docker or kong?
Choose Docker if you want the larger community (72,113 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose kong if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.