go-shadowsocks2 vs Kong Gateway
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?
go-shadowsocks2
Modern Shadowsocks proxy implementation in Go
VS
Kong Gateway
Cloud-native, fast, scalable API gateway
| Feature | go-shadowsocks2 | Kong Gateway |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Reverse Proxy & Gateways | Reverse Proxy & Gateways |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Go | Lua |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 32 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary | docker, kubernetes, helm |
| GitHub stars | ★ 4,731 | ★ 43,947 |
| First released | 2017 | 2015 |
| Replaces | VPN | AWS API Gateway, Apigee |
Why pick each one
Choose go-shadowsocks2 if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (4.7k GitHub stars)
- Written in Go
Choose Kong Gateway if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Kubernetes-ready with Helm charts available
- Mature project with 43.9k GitHub stars
Frequently asked questions
Is go-shadowsocks2 or Kong Gateway better?
Neither is universally better. Kong Gateway has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are go-shadowsocks2 and Kong Gateway free and open-source?
Yes. go-shadowsocks2 is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Kong Gateway under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run go-shadowsocks2 and Kong Gateway with Docker?
go-shadowsocks2: yes. Kong Gateway: yes.