head to head · open source
Docker vs kong
Docker has 72,238 GitHub stars, 19,309 forks, 3,902 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. kong has 44,347 stars, 5,240 forks, 200 open issues and last shipped 17 days ago. Docker leads on adoption by 63% (72,238 vs 44,347 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.
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Side by side
| Docker | kong | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 72K | ★ 44K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Lua |
| Last push | 2026-11-03 | 2026-10-19 |
| 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
The Moby Project ================ Moby is an open source project created by Docker to enable and accelerate software containerization. It provides a "Lego set" of toolkit components, the framework for assembling them into custom container based systems, and a place for all container enthusiasts and professionals to experiment and exchange ideas. Components include container build tools, a container registry, orchestration tools, a runtime and more, and these can be used as building blocks in conjunction with other tools and projects. Principles Moby is an open project guided by strong principles, aiming to be…
read the full Docker overview →
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…
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Frequently asked questions
Is Docker or kong more popular?
Docker has 72,238 GitHub stars and kong has 44,347. 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 (72,238 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.