head to head · open source
kubernetes vs mcp-gateway
kubernetes has 127,843 GitHub stars, 44,692 forks, 3,072 open issues and last shipped today. mcp-gateway has 844 stars, 91 forks, 12 open issues and last shipped 9 days ago. kubernetes leads on adoption by 15,047% (127,843 vs 844 stars). kubernetes is written in Go under Apache-2.0; mcp-gateway is written in C# under MIT. kubernetes has attracted 35% as many forks as stars, mcp-gateway 11%. kubernetes 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
| kubernetes | mcp-gateway | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 128K | ★ 844 |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Go | C# |
| Last push | 2026-09-20 | 2026-09-11 |
| Forks | ⑂ 45K | ⑂ 91 |
| 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 mcp-gateway if
- You want the mcp-gateway feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches C#
- You evaluated both and mcp-gateway 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 mcp-gateway
MCP Gateway is a reverse proxy and management layer for Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers that gives platform teams session aware stateful routing, authorization, and lifecycle management for MCP server fleets running in Kubernetes.
read the full mcp-gateway overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is kubernetes or mcp-gateway more popular?
kubernetes has 127,843 GitHub stars and mcp-gateway has 844. kubernetes has the larger community by that measure.
Are kubernetes and mcp-gateway free?
Both are open source. kubernetes is licensed under Apache-2.0 and mcp-gateway under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between kubernetes and mcp-gateway?
kubernetes is written in Go and mcp-gateway in C#. 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 mcp-gateway?
Choose kubernetes if you want the larger community (127,843 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose mcp-gateway if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.