head to head · open source
crowdsec vs thc-hydra
crowdsec has 15,510 GitHub stars, 757 forks, 296 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. thc-hydra has 12,478 stars, 2,702 forks, 50 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. crowdsec leads on adoption by 24% (15,510 vs 12,478 stars). crowdsec is written in Go under MIT; thc-hydra is written in C under AGPL-3.0. crowdsec has attracted 5% as many forks as stars, thc-hydra 22%. thc-hydra was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
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
| crowdsec | thc-hydra | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 16K | ★ 12K |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Go | C |
| Last push | 2026-11-06 | 2026-11-08 |
| Forks | ⑂ 757 | ⑂ 2.7K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick crowdsec if
- You weight community size — 16K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick thc-hydra if
- You want the thc-hydra feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C
- You evaluated both and thc-hydra fits your workflow better
About crowdsec
CrowdSec: open source IDS/IPS, WAF and bot detection CrowdSec is an open source and participative security solution offering crowdsourced server detection and protection against malicious IPs. Detect and block with our Security Engine, contribute to the network, and enjoy our real time community blocklist. Features & Advantages Versatile Security Engine CrowdSec Security Engine is an all in one IDS/IPS and WAF. It detects bad behaviors by analyzing log sources and HTTP requests, and allows active remediation thanks to the Remediation Components. Detection rules are available on our hub under MIT license…
read the full crowdsec overview →
About thc-hydra
H Y D R A (c) 2001 2023 by van Hauser / THC Many modules were written by David (dot) Maciejak @ gmail (dot) com BFG code by Jan Dlabal Licensed under AGPLv3 (see LICENSE file) Please do not use in military or secret service organizations, or for illegal purposes. (This is the wish of the author and non binding. Many people working in these organizations do not care for laws and ethics anyway. You are not one of the "good" ones if you ignore this.) NOTE: No, this is not meant to be a markdown doc! old school! Hydra in the most current GitHub state can be directly downloaded via Docker: INTRODUCTION Number one of…
read the full thc-hydra overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is crowdsec or thc-hydra more popular?
crowdsec has 15,510 GitHub stars and thc-hydra has 12,478. crowdsec has the larger community by that measure.
Are crowdsec and thc-hydra free?
Both are open source. crowdsec is licensed under MIT and thc-hydra under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between crowdsec and thc-hydra?
crowdsec is written in Go and thc-hydra in C. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, crowdsec or thc-hydra?
Choose crowdsec if you want the larger community (15,510 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose thc-hydra if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.