head to head · open source
authelia vs hydra
authelia has 29,482 GitHub stars, 1,531 forks, 137 open issues and last shipped yesterday. hydra has 17,646 stars, 1,620 forks, 98 open issues and last shipped 3 months ago. authelia leads on adoption by 67% (29,482 vs 17,646 stars). authelia is written in Go under Apache-2.0; hydra is written in Go under Apache-2.0. authelia has attracted 5% as many forks as stars, hydra 9%. authelia was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (docker, oauth2), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| authelia | hydra | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 29K | ★ 18K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Go |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-07-29 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.5K | ⑂ 1.6K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick authelia if
- You weight community size — 29K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick hydra if
- You want the hydra feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and hydra fits your workflow better
About authelia
<img alt="SLSA 3" src="
read the full authelia overview →
About hydra
Chat · Discussions · Newsletter · Docs · Try Ory Network · Jobs Ory Hydra is a hardened, OpenID Certified OAuth 2.0 Server and OpenID Connect Provider optimized for low latency, high throughput, and low resource consumption. It connects to your existing identity provider through a login and consent app, giving you absolute control over the user interface and experience. What is Ory Hydra? Why Ory Hydra OAuth2 and OpenID Connect: Open Standards OpenID Connect Certified Deployment options Use Ory Hydra on the Ory Network Self host Ory Hydra Quickstart Who is using Ory Hydra Ecosystem Ory Kratos: Identity and User…
read the full hydra overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is authelia or hydra more popular?
authelia has 29,482 GitHub stars and hydra has 17,646. authelia has the larger community by that measure.
Are authelia and hydra free?
Both are open source. authelia is licensed under Apache-2.0 and hydra under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between authelia and hydra?
authelia is written in Go and hydra in Go. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, authelia or hydra?
Choose authelia if you want the larger community (29,482 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose hydra if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.