head to head · open source
kubernetes vs kong
kubernetes has 128,842 GitHub stars, 45,758 forks, 3,072 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. kong has 44,348 stars, 5,238 forks, 200 open issues and last shipped 16 days ago. kubernetes leads on adoption by 191% (128,842 vs 44,348 stars). kubernetes is written in Go under Apache-2.0; kong is written in Lua under Apache-2.0. kubernetes has attracted 36% 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 | ★ 129K | ★ 44K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Lua |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-10-19 |
| Forks | ⑂ 46K | ⑂ 5.2K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick kubernetes if
- You weight community size — 129K 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) Kubernetes, also known as K8s, is an open source system for managing [containerized applications] across multiple hosts. It provides basic mechanisms for the deployment, maintenance, and scaling of applications. Kubernetes builds upon a decade and a half of experience at Google running production workloads at scale using a system called [Borg], combined with best of breed ideas and practices from the community. Kubernetes is hosted by the Cloud Native Computing Foundation ([CNCF]). If your company wants to help shape the evolution of technologies that are container packaged, dynamically…
read the full kubernetes 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 kubernetes or kong more popular?
kubernetes has 128,842 GitHub stars and kong has 44,348. 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 (128,842 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.