Kong Gateway vs Tinyauth
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?
Kong Gateway
Cloud-native, fast, scalable API gateway
VS
Tinyauth
Simplest way to protect your apps with a login screen
| Feature | Kong Gateway | Tinyauth |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Reverse Proxy & Gateways | Reverse Proxy & Gateways |
| License | Apache-2.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | Lua | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | docker, kubernetes, helm | docker |
| GitHub stars | ★ 43,947 | ★ 8,092 |
| First released | 2015 | 2024 |
| Replaces | AWS API Gateway, Apigee | Cloudflare Access |
Why pick each one
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
Choose Tinyauth if…
- Released under the GPL-3.0 license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 8.1k GitHub stars
Frequently asked questions
Is Kong Gateway or Tinyauth better?
Neither is universally better. Kong Gateway has the larger community, while Tinyauth is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Kong Gateway and Tinyauth free and open-source?
Yes. Kong Gateway is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Tinyauth under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Kong Gateway and Tinyauth with Docker?
Kong Gateway: yes. Tinyauth: yes.