head to head · open source
hydra vs Authgear
hydra has 17,553 GitHub stars, 1,609 forks, 98 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. Authgear has 2,055 stars, 125 forks, 368 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. hydra leads on adoption by 754% (17,553 vs 2,055 stars). hydra is written in Go under Apache-2.0; Authgear is written in Go under Apache-2.0. hydra has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, Authgear 6%. Authgear was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (identity, 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
| hydra | Authgear | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 18K | ★ 2.1K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Go |
| Last push | 2026-07-29 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.6K | ⑂ 125 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick hydra if
- You weight community size — 18K 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 Authgear if
- You want the Authgear 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 Authgear fits your workflow better
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 →
About Authgear
Authgear is open source identity and access management platform. It is managed identity platform for any app. It is open source Auth0, Clerk, Firebase Auth alternative. It is written in Go, licensed Apache 2.0, and lives in identity and access management ecosystem.
read the full Authgear overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is hydra or Authgear more popular?
hydra has 17,553 GitHub stars and Authgear has 2,055. hydra has the larger community by that measure.
Are hydra and Authgear free?
Both are open source. hydra is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Authgear under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between hydra and Authgear?
hydra is written in Go and Authgear 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, hydra or Authgear?
Choose hydra if you want the larger community (17,553 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose Authgear if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.