head to head · open source
kubernetes vs kong
kubernetes has 127,813 GitHub stars, 44,561 forks, 3,072 open issues and last shipped yesterday. kong has 44,151 stars, 5,210 forks, 200 open issues and last shipped 12 days ago. kubernetes leads on adoption by 189% (127,813 vs 44,151 stars). kubernetes is written in Go under Apache-2.0; kong is written in Lua under Apache-2.0. kubernetes has attracted 35% as many forks as stars, kong 12%. kubernetes was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (kubernetes), 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.
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Side by side
| kubernetes | kong | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 128K | ★ 44K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Lua |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-07 |
| Forks | ⑂ 45K | ⑂ 5.2K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick kubernetes if
- You weight community size — 128K 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 kubernetes
Kubernetes (K8s) is an open source, Apache 2.0 licensed system for managing containerized applications across multiple hosts, hosted by the Cloud Native Computing Foundation and aimed at teams who deploy, maintain and scale container packaged and microservices oriented workloads in production.
read the full kubernetes 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.
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Frequently asked questions
Is kubernetes or kong more popular?
kubernetes has 127,813 GitHub stars and kong has 44,151. kubernetes has the larger community by that measure.
Are kubernetes and kong free?
Both are open source. kubernetes is licensed under Apache-2.0 and kong under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between kubernetes and kong?
kubernetes 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, kubernetes or kong?
Choose kubernetes if you want the larger community (127,813 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.