--- title: "ergo vs kratos" type: "comparison" canonical_url: "https://www.graphcanon.com/compare/ergo-services-ergo-vs-go-kratos-kratos" tools: ["ergo-services-ergo", "go-kratos-kratos"] --- # ergo vs kratos *GraphCanon updated Sep 20, 2026* ## Verdict Pick ergo if ergo is an actor-based framework for Golang that simplifies the development of event-driven architectures with built-in network transparency inspired by Erlang and Elixir OTP; pick kratos if kratos is a Go microservices framework designed for cloud-native applications that supports both gRPC and HTTP protocols. [ergo](https://ergo.services) reports 4.7k GitHub stars, 191 forks, and 0 open issues, last pushed Sep 7, 2026. [kratos](https://go-kratos.dev) has 26k stars, 4.2k forks, and 117 open issues, last pushed Sep 16, 2026. Figures are from public GitHub metadata via [ergo's repository](https://github.com/ergo-services/ergo) and [kratos's repository](https://github.com/go-kratos/kratos). | | [ergo](/tools/ergo-services-ergo.md) | [kratos](/tools/go-kratos-kratos.md) | | --- | --- | --- | | Tagline | An actor-based framework for event-driven architecture in Golang | Go microservices framework for cloud-native applications | | Stars | 4,658 | 25,929 | | Forks | 191 | 4,176 | | Open issues | 0 | 117 | | Language | Go | Go | | Adopt for | Ergo is an actor-based framework for Golang that simplifies the development of event-driven architectures with built-in network transparency inspired by Erlang and Elixir OTP. | Kratos is a Go microservices framework designed for cloud-native applications that supports both gRPC and HTTP protocols. | | Persona | - | - | | Runtime | - | - | | License | MIT | MIT | | Categories | Developer Tools | Developer Tools | ## Trust and health _Sourced signals - not a safety guarantee. No winner column._ | | [ergo](/tools/ergo-services-ergo.md) | [kratos](/tools/go-kratos-kratos.md) | | --- | --- | --- | | Maintenance | Active (82%) | Very active (96%) | | Days since push | 7d | 3d | | Open issues (now) | 0 | 117 | | Stars delta | +36 (30d) | +113 (30d) | | Open issues delta | -6 (30d) | +31 (30d) | | Full report | [trust report](/tools/ergo-services-ergo/trust.md) | [trust report](/tools/go-kratos-kratos/trust.md) | ## Decision facts: ergo - **Adopt for:** Ergo is an actor-based framework for Golang that simplifies the development of event-driven architectures with built-in network transparency inspired by Erlang and Elixir OTP. ## Decision facts: kratos - **Adopt for:** Kratos is a Go microservices framework designed for cloud-native applications that supports both gRPC and HTTP protocols. ## Choose when ### Choose ergo if… - Tags unique to ergo: actor-model, distributed-systems, event-driven-architecture, microservices. - For projects requiring a robust actor-model system for handling event-driven microservices in Golang - Leaner open-issue backlog (0). ### Choose kratos if… - Tags unique to kratos: ai, architecture, cloud-native, framework. - When you need to develop efficient and scalable microservice architectures specifically in the Go programming language, as Kratos offers dedicated support to optimize go-based services. - More GitHub stars (26k vs 4.7k) - visibility, not fit. ## When NOT to use ergo - If your project does not fit an event-driven or actor-based architecture model - When the complexity of setting up a supervision tree and managing actors exceeds the needs of your application ## When NOT to use kratos - If your project does not require Go or you prefer frameworks supporting a wider range of languages, as Kratos is specialized in the Go ecosystem and may introduce language-specific limitations. - In scenarios where lightweight microservices without extensive framework overhead are preferred, given that Kratos includes features like gRPC out of the box which might add unnecessary complexity. ## Common questions ### What is the difference between ergo and kratos? ergo: An actor-based framework for event-driven architecture in Golang. kratos: Go microservices framework for cloud-native applications. See the comparison table for live GitHub stats and shared categories. ### When should I choose ergo over kratos? Choose ergo over kratos when Tags unique to ergo: actor-model, distributed-systems, event-driven-architecture, microservices; For projects requiring a robust actor-model system for handling event-driven microservices in Golang; Leaner open-issue backlog (0). ### When should I choose kratos over ergo? Choose kratos over ergo when Tags unique to kratos: ai, architecture, cloud-native, framework; When you need to develop efficient and scalable microservice architectures specifically in the Go programming language, as Kratos offers dedicated support to optimize go-based services; More GitHub stars (26k vs 4.7k) - visibility, not fit. ### When should I avoid ergo? If your project does not fit an event-driven or actor-based architecture model When the complexity of setting up a supervision tree and managing actors exceeds the needs of your application ### When should I avoid kratos? If your project does not require Go or you prefer frameworks supporting a wider range of languages, as Kratos is specialized in the Go ecosystem and may introduce language-specific limitations. In scenarios where lightweight microservices without extensive framework overhead are preferred, given that Kratos includes features like gRPC out of the box which might add unnecessary complexity. ### Is ergo or kratos more popular on GitHub? kratos has more GitHub stars (25,929 vs 4,658). Stars measure visibility, not whether either tool fits your constraints. ### Are ergo and kratos open source? Yes - both are open-source projects on GitHub (ergo: MIT, kratos: MIT). ### Where can I find alternatives to ergo or kratos? GraphCanon lists graph-backed alternatives at [ergo alternatives](/tools/ergo-services-ergo/alternatives) and [kratos alternatives](/tools/go-kratos-kratos/alternatives) ([ergo markdown twin](/tools/ergo-services-ergo/alternatives.md), [kratos markdown twin](/tools/go-kratos-kratos/alternatives.md)), ranked by typed relationship edges rather than popularity votes. ### Is there a machine-readable version of this comparison? Yes. The markdown twin at [this comparison](/compare/ergo-services-ergo-vs-go-kratos-kratos.md) mirrors this page for agents and LLM crawlers, with the same stats table and FAQ answers. ### Which is better maintained, ergo or kratos? ergo: Active. kratos: Very active. Compare maintenance labels, days since push, and release cadence in the trust section below - stars alone do not measure maintenance. ### Where are the full trust reports for ergo and kratos? GraphCanon publishes per-repo trust reports with dated maintenance, provenance, and scan summaries: [ergo trust report](/tools/ergo-services-ergo/trust); [kratos trust report](/tools/go-kratos-kratos/trust). --- **Machine-readable endpoints** - JSON: [`/api/graphcanon/graph?tool=ergo-services-ergo`](/api/graphcanon/graph?tool=ergo-services-ergo) - LLM index: [/llms.txt](/llms.txt) - Full corpus: [/llms-full.txt](/llms-full.txt) _GraphCanon - The knowledge graph for AI development. https://www.graphcanon.com/_