head to head · open source
hydra vs dex
hydra has 17,646 GitHub stars, 1,619 forks, 98 open issues and last shipped 3 months ago. dex has 11,229 stars, 2,016 forks, 547 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. hydra leads on adoption by 57% (17,646 vs 11,229 stars). hydra is written in Go under Apache-2.0; dex is written in Go under Apache-2.0. hydra has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, dex 18%. dex was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (hacktoberfest), 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 | dex | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 18K | ★ 11K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Go |
| Last push | 2026-07-29 | 2026-11-03 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.6K | ⑂ 2.0K |
| 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 dex if
- You want the dex 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 dex fits your workflow better
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 →
About dex
dex A federated OpenID Connect provider Dex is an identity service that uses [OpenID Connect][openid connect] to drive authentication for other apps. Dex acts as a portal to other identity providers through "connectors." This lets dex defer authentication to LDAP servers, SAML providers, or established identity providers like GitHub, Google, and Active Directory. Clients write their authentication logic once to talk to dex, then dex handles the protocols for a given backend. ID Tokens ID Tokens are an OAuth2 extension introduced by OpenID Connect and dex's primary feature. ID Tokens are [JSON Web Tokens][jwt io]…
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Frequently asked questions
Is hydra or dex more popular?
hydra has 17,646 GitHub stars and dex has 11,229. hydra has the larger community by that measure.
Are hydra and dex free?
Both are open source. hydra is licensed under Apache-2.0 and dex under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between hydra and dex?
hydra is written in Go and dex 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 dex?
Choose hydra if you want the larger community (17,646 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose dex if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.