Gin vs go-zero
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 fast Go web framework for building HTTP APIs and web services with a simple routing API.
Open source · MIT
A Go framework for building web and RPC microservices, with a code generator called goctl.
The short answer
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
Choose go-zero if you need…
- Go developers building REST APIs or microservices
- Teams that want built-in resilience features like rate limiting and circuit breakers without writing them by hand
- Developers who want code generated from an API description file
Side-by-side
| Gin | go-zero | |
|---|---|---|
| Type | Library | Library |
| Price | Free and open source | Free and open source |
| Licence | MIT | MIT |
| GitHub stars | 89.5k | 33.4k |
| Setup difficulty | Intermediate | Intermediate |
| How you get it | Install with a package manager | Install with a package manager |
| Main language | Go | Go |
| Last code update | 27 days ago | 5 days ago |
What each one is
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.
go-zero
go-zero is a framework for writing web APIs and RPC services in Go. It includes built-in engineering features such as timeouts, rate limiting, circuit breaking and load shedding, meant to keep busy services stable. Its goctl tool generates Go server code and client code in other languages from a simple .api description file.
Best for
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
go-zero
- Go developers building REST APIs or microservices
- Teams that want built-in resilience features like rate limiting and circuit breakers without writing them by hand
- Developers who want code generated from an API description file
Strengths
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
go-zero
- Includes resilience features such as rate limiting, circuit breaking and load shedding
- Code generation reduces repetitive setup code
- The README says it is used by sites with tens of millions of users
Not ideal for
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
go-zero
- Developers who prefer to write everything by hand or use only the standard library, since go-zero generates a lot of boilerplate and adds its own conventions
- Non-Go teams, because the framework is written for Go
Trade-offs
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
go-zero
- Heavy reliance on generated code and its own conventions can make it harder to adopt piecemeal
- The README is truncated, so detailed configuration options are not visible here
- Documentation links point to a separate zero-doc repository and a homepage I could not verify
Getting started
Gin
Import Gin in your code; Go fetches it during build
import "github.com/gin-gonic/gin"go-zero
Add the library to your project
go get -u github.com/zeromicro/go-zeroInstall the goctl code generator
go install github.com/zeromicro/go-zero/tools/goctl@latestFrequently asked questions
What is the difference between Gin and go-zero?
Gin: A fast Go web framework for building HTTP APIs and web services with a simple routing API. go-zero: A Go framework for building web and RPC microservices, with a code generator called goctl. Gin suits go developers building rest apis, while go-zero suits go developers building rest apis or microservices.
Are Gin and go-zero free?
Gin: Free and open source. go-zero: Free and open source.
Is Gin or go-zero more popular?
Gin has more GitHub stars (89.5k) than go-zero (33.4k). Popularity isn't the same as fit — check which one matches your use case above.
What are other alternatives to Gin and go-zero?
Other options people compare them with include Echo, chi, Fiber, warp, Vapor.
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.