7days-golang vs Gin
Which should you use? A side-by-side look at what each one does, who it suits, what it costs, how hard it is to set up, and where each falls short.
Open source · MIT
A tutorial series that builds a web framework, cache, ORM, and RPC library from scratch in Go.
Open source · MIT
A fast Go web framework for building HTTP APIs and web services with a simple routing API.
The short answer
Choose 7days-golang if you need…
- Developers who want to understand how web frameworks, caches, ORMs, or RPC libraries work internally
- Students learning Go who prefer reading and running small, step-by-step code
- Engineers preparing for interviews that cover Go internals
- Readers who already know basic Go syntax and want to practice designing small libraries
Choose Gin if you need…
- Go developers building REST APIs
- Teams writing microservices in Go
- Developers who want a Martini-like API with a faster router
- Projects where request throughput matters
Side-by-side
| 7days-golang | Gin | |
|---|---|---|
| Type | Learning resource | Library |
| Price | Free and open source | Free and open source |
| Licence | MIT | MIT |
| GitHub stars | 17k | 89.5k |
| Setup difficulty | Intermediate | Intermediate |
| How you get it | Clone and build from source | Install with a package manager |
| Main language | Go | Go |
| Last code update | 2 months ago | 27 days ago |
What each one is
7days-golang
This is a set of Go code examples organized as a 7-day build-along course. Each day adds one feature to a small project, such as a web framework similar to gin, a distributed cache similar to groupcache, an ORM similar to gorm and xorm, and an RPC framework based on net/rpc. Each day links to a written explanation and a code folder so you can see how the pieces fit together.
Gin
Gin is an HTTP web framework written in Go. It gives you a simple way to define routes, handle requests, return JSON or HTML, and use middleware such as logging and panic recovery. The project says it is much faster than many other Go frameworks, citing a GitHub API routing benchmark included in its README.
Best for
7days-golang
- Developers who want to understand how web frameworks, caches, ORMs, or RPC libraries work internally
- Students learning Go who prefer reading and running small, step-by-step code
- Engineers preparing for interviews that cover Go internals
- Readers who already know basic Go syntax and want to practice designing small libraries
Gin
- Go developers building REST APIs
- Teams writing microservices in Go
- Developers who want a Martini-like API with a faster router
- Projects where request throughput matters
Strengths
7days-golang
- Breaks each system into seven small, sequential steps with a linked explanation and code folder for each
- Covers several distinct areas of backend work (web routing, caching, databases, RPC) in one place
- Available in both English and Chinese versions of the README
Gin
- Designed for speed, with benchmarks in the README showing low allocation routing
- Simple, Martini-like routing API with a short getting-started example
- Has a large ecosystem of middleware and documentation in several languages
Not ideal for
7days-golang
- People who need a production library to use in an app, since these are teaching projects built to show concepts rather than to be used in production
- Complete beginners to programming, because the README assumes familiarity with Go and linking to a separate basics tutorial is recommended
- People looking for a maintained, feature-complete framework with releases, since the README lists no release
Gin
- Non-programmers, since it is a Go library and requires writing code
- Teams not using Go, because it only works in that language
- Projects needing a full batteries-included framework with built-in ORM or admin panel, as the README describes a focused routing and middleware framework
Trade-offs
7days-golang
- The README does not state a specific Go version or describe how to run the code, so setup details are unclear from this text
- The projects are educational re-implementations and the README does not claim they are production-ready
- The README is truncated here, so some details about individual days could not be verified
Gin
- Requires Go 1.26 or above, which may be newer than some existing setups
- Performance claims rely on the project's own benchmark, so real results depend on your workload
- Latest release has no prebuilt binaries, since it is used as a library
Getting started
7days-golang
Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/geektutu/7days-golangGin
Import Gin in your code; Go fetches it during build
import "github.com/gin-gonic/gin"Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between 7days-golang and Gin?
7days-golang: A tutorial series that builds a web framework, cache, ORM, and RPC library from scratch in Go. Gin: A fast Go web framework for building HTTP APIs and web services with a simple routing API. 7days-golang suits developers who want to understand how web frameworks, caches, orms, or rpc libraries work internally, while Gin suits go developers building rest apis.
Are 7days-golang and Gin free?
7days-golang: Free and open source. Gin: Free and open source.
Is 7days-golang or Gin more popular?
Gin has more GitHub stars (89.5k) than 7days-golang (17k). Popularity isn't the same as fit — check which one matches your use case above.
What are other alternatives to 7days-golang and Gin?
Other options people compare them with include GORM, go-zero, Echo, chi, Fiber.
Keep comparing
Built from our catalogue entries for both products: open-source details come from each project's README (AI-assisted, refreshed weekly) and GitHub data; AI-tool details are editorial. Spotted something wrong? Let us know from either product's page.