head to head · open source
Better Auth vs hydra
Better Auth has 30,000 GitHub stars, 2,893 forks, 723 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. hydra has 17,549 stars, 1,610 forks, 98 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. Better Auth leads on adoption by 71% (30,000 vs 17,549 stars). Better Auth is written in TypeScript under MIT; hydra is written in Go under Apache-2.0. Better Auth has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, hydra 9%. Better Auth was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 4 topic tags (oauth, oauth2, oidc, sso), 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
| Better Auth | hydra | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 30K | ★ 18K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-07-29 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.9K | ⑂ 1.6K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Better Auth if
- You weight community size — 30K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- 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 Better Auth
Better Auth is a framework agnostic authentication and authorization framework written in TypeScript. It targets the broader JavaScript/TypeScript ecosystem and is designed to integrate with any backend or frontend framework, including Next.js, Express, SvelteKit, and others. It provides a unified API surface for core identity workflows such as sign up, sign in, session management, and passwordless flows.
read the full Better Auth overview →
About hydra
Ory Hydra is an OpenID Certified OpenID Connect and OAuth 2.1 provider written in Go and licensed under Apache 2.0, built for teams that need standards compliant token issuance, client management, and consent flows while user accounts stay in their own existing identity system.
read the full hydra overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Better Auth or hydra more popular?
Better Auth has 30,000 GitHub stars and hydra has 17,549. Better Auth has the larger community by that measure.
Are Better Auth and hydra free?
Both are open source. Better Auth is licensed under MIT and hydra under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Better Auth and hydra?
Better Auth is written in TypeScript 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, Better Auth or hydra?
Choose Better Auth if you want the larger community (30,000 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose hydra if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.