kgateway open source analysis

The Cloud-Native API Gateway and AI Gateway

Project overview

⭐ 5080 · Go · Last activity on GitHub: 2025-11-30

GitHub: https://github.com/kgateway-dev/kgateway

Why it matters for engineering teams

Kgateway addresses the challenge of managing and routing API traffic in complex cloud-native environments, providing a reliable and production ready solution for teams working with microservices, serverless functions, and hybrid applications. It integrates seamlessly with Kubernetes and Envoy proxy, making it practical for engineering teams focused on scalable API management and ingress control. This open source tool for engineering teams is well-suited for backend engineers, platform engineers, and DevOps professionals who require a stable API gateway that supports gRPC and legacy app integration. While mature and widely adopted, kgateway may not be the best fit for teams seeking a lightweight or fully managed cloud service, as it requires self hosting and operational overhead in maintaining the gateway infrastructure.

When to use this project

Kgateway is a strong choice when you need a production ready solution for managing APIs in Kubernetes environments, especially if you require advanced features like gRPC support and hybrid app compatibility. Consider alternatives if you prefer a fully managed API gateway service or have minimal infrastructure resources to dedicate to self hosting.

Team fit and typical use cases

Backend and platform engineers benefit most from kgateway, typically using it to route and secure API traffic for microservices and serverless products. It is commonly found in cloud-native applications where teams need a self hosted option for API management that integrates well with Kubernetes and Envoy. This open source tool for engineering teams helps maintain control over API behaviour and performance in production environments.

Topics and ecosystem

api-gateway api-management cloud-native envoy envoy-proxy grpc hybrid-apps kubernetes kubernetes-ingress-controller legacy-apps microservices serverless

Activity and freshness

Latest commit on GitHub: 2025-11-30. Activity data is based on repeated RepoPi snapshots of the GitHub repository. It gives a quick, factual view of how alive the project is.