head to head · open source
thc-hydra vs dockle
thc-hydra has 12,293 GitHub stars, 2,669 forks, 50 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. dockle has 3,296 stars, 167 forks, 53 open issues and last shipped 1 months ago. thc-hydra leads on adoption by 273% (12,293 vs 3,296 stars). thc-hydra is written in C under AGPL-3.0; dockle is written in Go under Apache-2.0. thc-hydra has attracted 22% as many forks as stars, dockle 5%. dockle 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.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| thc-hydra | dockle | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 12K | ★ 3.3K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | C | Go |
| Last push | 2026-07-30 | 2026-08-10 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.7K | ⑂ 167 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick thc-hydra if
- You weight community size — 12K stars and counting
- You want the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick dockle if
- You want the dockle 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 dockle fits your workflow better
About thc-hydra
Hydra is an AGPL 3.0 licensed, C based login cracker that attacks dozens of network protocols in parallel, built for security researchers and penetration testing consultants who need to demonstrate how easily a remote system can be reached with weak credentials.
read the full thc-hydra overview →
About dockle
Dockle is an open source container image linter written in Go that audits already built Docker images against security and best practice checkpoints, aimed at developers and DevSecOps teams who ship containers and want that audit to run automatically.
read the full dockle overview →
More in Security & Privacy
Related comparisons
More Threat Detection & Response projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Threat Detection & Response field.
Frequently asked questions
Is thc-hydra or dockle more popular?
thc-hydra has 12,293 GitHub stars and dockle has 3,296. thc-hydra has the larger community by that measure.
Are thc-hydra and dockle free?
Both are open source. thc-hydra is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and dockle under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between thc-hydra and dockle?
thc-hydra is written in C and dockle 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, thc-hydra or dockle?
Choose thc-hydra if you want the larger community (12,293 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose dockle if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.