SHSelfHostIndex

Apache APISIX vs Traefik

A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted reverse proxy & gateways options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.

Not the right match-up?
AP Apache APISIX Dynamic, real-time, high-performance API gateway VS TR Traefik Cloud-native reverse proxy and load balancer
FeatureApache APISIXTraefik
CategoryReverse Proxy & GatewaysReverse Proxy & Gateways
LicenseApache-2.0MIT
LanguageLuaGo
Setup difficultyMediumMedium
Min. RAM512 MB128 MB
Deploymentdocker, kubernetes, helmdocker, kubernetes, helm
GitHub stars★ 16,968★ 64,330
First released20192015
ReplacesKong, AWS API GatewayHAProxy, AWS ELB

Why pick each one

Choose Apache APISIX if…

  • Released under the Apache-2.0 license
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • Kubernetes-ready with Helm charts available
  • Mature project with 17k GitHub stars
Apache APISIX details

Choose Traefik if…

  • Released under the MIT license
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • Kubernetes-ready with Helm charts available
  • Mature project with 64.3k GitHub stars
Traefik details

Frequently asked questions

Is Apache APISIX or Traefik better?

Neither is universally better. Traefik has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.

Are Apache APISIX and Traefik free and open-source?

Yes. Apache APISIX is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Traefik under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Apache APISIX and Traefik with Docker?

Apache APISIX: yes. Traefik: yes.

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