head to head · open source
SafeLine vs Tyk
SafeLine has 22,606 GitHub stars, 1,533 forks, 69 open issues and last shipped 8 days ago. Tyk has 10,822 stars, 1,166 forks, 509 open issues and last shipped yesterday. SafeLine leads on adoption by 109% (22,606 vs 10,822 stars). SafeLine is written in Go under GPL-3.0; Tyk is written in Go under a custom or non-standard licence. SafeLine has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, Tyk 11%. Tyk 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 | Tyk | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 23K | ★ 11K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | Custom / other |
| Written in | Go | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-10 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.5K | ⑂ 1.2K |
| 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 Tyk if
- You want the Tyk feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and Tyk fits your workflow better
About SafeLine
SafeLine is a self hosted web application firewall and reverse proxy, written in Go and licensed under GPL 3.0, that filters, monitors, and blocks malicious HTTP/S traffic before it reaches a web application — built for developers, AppSec engineers, and blue teams who want to run edge protection on their own infrastructure.
read the full SafeLine overview →
About Tyk
Tyk is an open source API Gateway written in Go. The GitHub description names Tyk as an Open Source API Gateway written in Go, supporting REST, GraphQL, TCP and gRPC protocols. The tagline names it a Universal API management for REST, GraphQL, gRPC and async. It lives in the developer tools, API development and testing ecosystem. It acts as a reverse proxy for microservices and cloud native workloads.
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Frequently asked questions
Is SafeLine or Tyk more popular?
SafeLine has 22,606 GitHub stars and Tyk has 10,822. SafeLine has the larger community by that measure.
Are SafeLine and Tyk free?
Both are open source. SafeLine is licensed under GPL-3.0, and Tyk has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between SafeLine and Tyk?
SafeLine is written in Go and Tyk in Go. 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 Tyk?
Choose SafeLine if you want the larger community (22,606 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose Tyk if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.