head to head · open source
SafeLine vs shenyu
SafeLine has 23,154 GitHub stars, 1,592 forks, 69 open issues and last shipped 12 days ago. shenyu has 8,911 stars, 3,105 forks, 565 open issues and last shipped yesterday. SafeLine leads on adoption by 160% (23,154 vs 8,911 stars). SafeLine is written in Go under GPL-3.0; shenyu is written in Java under Apache-2.0. SafeLine has attracted 7% 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.
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Side by side
| SafeLine | shenyu | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 23K | ★ 8.9K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Java |
| Last push | 2026-10-22 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.6K | ⑂ 3.1K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick SafeLine if
- You weight community size — 23K stars and counting
- You want the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- 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 SafeLine
SafeLine Make your web apps secure 🏠 Website 📖 Docs 🔍 Live Demo 🙋♂️ Discord 中文版 🏆 Achievements 👋 INTRODUCTION SafeLine is a self hosted WAF(Web Application Firewall) to protect your web apps from attacks and exploits. A web application firewall helps protect web apps by filtering and monitoring HTTP traffic between a web application and the Internet. It typically protects web apps from attacks such as SQL injection , XSS , code injection , os command injection , CRLF injection , ldap injection , xpath injection , RCE , XXE , SSRF , path traversal , backdoor , bruteforce , http flood , bot abused , among…
read the full SafeLine overview →
About shenyu
Scalable, High Performance, Responsive API Gateway Solution for all MicroServices Architecture Why named Apache ShenYu ShenYu (神禹) is the honorific name of Chinese ancient monarch Xia Yu (also known in later times as Da Yu), who left behind the touching story of the three times he crossed the Yellow River for the benefit of the people and successfully managed the flooding of the river. He is known as one of the three greatest kings of ancient China, along with Yao and Shun. Firstly, the name ShenYu is to promote the traditional virtues of our Chinese civilisation. Secondly, the most important thing about the…
read the full shenyu overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is SafeLine or shenyu more popular?
SafeLine has 23,154 GitHub stars and shenyu has 8,911. SafeLine has the larger community by that measure.
Are SafeLine and shenyu free?
Both are open source. SafeLine is licensed under GPL-3.0 and shenyu under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between SafeLine and shenyu?
SafeLine is written in Go 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, SafeLine or shenyu?
Choose SafeLine if you want the larger community (23,154 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose shenyu if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.