head to head · open source
one-api vs shenyu
one-api has 36,932 GitHub stars, 6,867 forks, 1,036 open issues and last shipped 8 months ago. shenyu has 8,836 stars, 3,072 forks, 565 open issues and last shipped yesterday. one-api leads on adoption by 318% (36,932 vs 8,836 stars). one-api is written in JavaScript under MIT; shenyu is written in Java under Apache-2.0. one-api has attracted 19% as many forks as stars, shenyu 35%. shenyu was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (api-gateway), 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.
← all 8884 open source comparisons
Side by side
| one-api | shenyu | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 37K | ★ 8.8K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | JavaScript | Java |
| Last push | 2026-01-09 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.9K | ⑂ 3.1K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick one-api if
- You weight community size — 37K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick shenyu if
- You want the shenyu feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You evaluated both and shenyu fits your workflow better
About one-api
One API is a self hosted LLM API management and key redistribution system that exposes many model providers through the standard OpenAI API format, aimed at developers, teams and operators who want a single endpoint, a single key model and a single quota surface across providers.
read the full one-api overview →
About shenyu
Apache ShenYu is a Java native, Apache licensed API gateway for service proxy, protocol conversion, and API governance across microservices.
read the full shenyu overview →
More in Developer Tools
Related comparisons
More API Development & Testing projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the API Development & Testing field.
Frequently asked questions
Is one-api or shenyu more popular?
one-api has 36,932 GitHub stars and shenyu has 8,836. one-api has the larger community by that measure.
Are one-api and shenyu free?
Both are open source. one-api is licensed under MIT and shenyu under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between one-api and shenyu?
one-api is written in JavaScript and shenyu in Java. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, one-api or shenyu?
Choose one-api if you want the larger community (36,932 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose shenyu if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.