Gin
A fast Go web framework for building HTTP APIs and web services with a simple routing API.
- Stars
- 89.5k
- Forks
- 8.9k
- Licence
- MIT
- Language
- Go
- Last update
- 27 days ago
- Type
- Library
What it is
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.
- Build a JSON REST API with routes such as GET /ping
- Group related routes and apply shared middleware to them
- Run a web service with default logging and crash recovery middleware
- Bind and validate JSON request bodies
Great for
- 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
Not ideal for
- 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
How to get it
- 1
Install with a package manager
You'll need: Go 1.26 or above
Import Gin in your code; Go fetches it during build
import "github.com/gin-gonic/gin" - 2
Run it
- Save the example code as main.go
- Run go run main.go
- Open http://localhost:8080/ping in your browser
- Confirm you see {"message":"pong"}
- 3
Get the most out of it
- Read the Gin Quick Start Guide in docs/doc.md for build configurations
- Use route groups to share middleware across related endpoints
- Browse the official example repository for file uploads, WebSockets, and template rendering
- Use the gin-gonic.com documentation for the full API in your language
Downloads
Strengths
- 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
Trade-offs
- 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
How it compares
| Project | Stars | Type | Level | Updated | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| gin (this) | 89.5k | Library | intermediate | 27 days ago | Go developers building REST APIs |
| echo | 32.8k | Library | intermediate | 6 days ago | Go developers building REST APIs or backend services |
| chi | 23k | Library | intermediate | 19 days ago | Go developers building REST API services |
| fiber | 40.2k | Library | intermediate | 4 days ago | Go developers building REST APIs or web backends |
| warp | 10.4k | Library | intermediate | 3 months ago | Rust developers building HTTP APIs or web servers |
| vapor | 26.2k | Library | intermediate | 4 days ago | Swift developers who want to build backend services in the same language as their iOS or macOS apps |
Stats synced from GitHub. The assessment above was drafted with AI from the project's README on 2026-10-29 and may miss recent changes — check the README before relying on a command. MIT licence: free to use, modify and distribute, including commercially, as long as you keep the copyright notice.