Kannel walked so we could run.
Yakugate exists because we operated the previous generation of open-source gateways for years and hit their edges. This is an honest comparison — including where the others may still be the better fit.
| Capability | Yakugate | Kannel | Jasmin |
|---|---|---|---|
| Language / runtime | Go — one static binary, run by role | C — bearerbox + smsbox processes | Python — Twisted-based daemons |
| Required to start | MySQL only (self-provisioned on first run) | Own config + external SMSC access | RabbitMQ + Redis required |
| Client protocols | HTTP JSON API + SMPP 3.4 server | HTTP (sendsms) + SMPP | HTTP API + SMPP server |
| Vendor egress | SMPP + any REST/XML/SOAP carrier via config-only adapter profiles | SMPP and SMSC-specific drivers | SMPP connectors |
| Routing | Direct, failover, weighted load-balance, least-cost — per destination | Static config routing | Filter-based MT/MO routing rules |
| DLR lifecycle | End-to-end: correlation, client push over bind or webhook, retries | DLR relay | DLR handling with retries |
| Multipart SMS | Assemble-first policy screening; per-part truth over SMPP | Basic concatenation | Concatenation supported |
| Billing & rating | Versioned buy/sell rate cards, prepaid ledger, append-only audit | — | Per-user credits & quotas |
| Traffic protection / firewall | Spam gates, template enforcement, abuse scoring with graduated response | — | Rate limiting |
| Auth hardening | JWT (HS/RS/ES256) or password, lockout ladders, spray guard, anti-enumeration | Basic credentials | Basic credentials |
| Storage backends | MySQL, MSSQL, MongoDB, Redis — four pluggable stores | Multiple DBs via DBPool | Redis + RabbitMQ |
| Published benchmark | 57,837 seg/s measured, reproducible from the repo | Not published | Not published |
| Admin portal | Via distribution partners (engine stays open) | — | jcli console |
| License | MIT | Kannel license (BSD-style) | Open source — see project |
| Actively developed | Yes — v4.0 LTS line | Largely dormant for years | Community-maintained |
Competitor columns describe each project as commonly deployed and documented at the time of writing. Both are open source — verify details against kannel.org and jasminsms.com. Spotted something outdated? Tell us and we'll fix it.
Respect where it's due.
Where Kannel still makes sense
Twenty-plus years of production deployments, a huge base of operational knowledge, and it may already be running fine in your rack. If your Kannel setup is stable and your needs aren't growing, keeping it is a legitimate choice.
Where Jasmin still makes sense
A mature Python ecosystem, flexible AMQP integration points, and years of community use. If your team lives in Python and already operates RabbitMQ, Jasmin's model may fit your stack naturally.
Where Yakugate aims
The parts both predecessors leave to you — billing, abuse protection, DLR truth, vendor onboarding without code — built into one binary you can measure before you commit. It is the successor we wished existed while operating the others.
Judge it on your own hardware.
The only comparison that matters is the one you run yourself. Yakugate self-provisions its database and publishes reproducible benchmarks — clone it next to your current gateway and measure.