head to head · open source
hydra vs Logto
hydra has 17,646 GitHub stars, 1,619 forks, 98 open issues and last shipped 3 months ago. Logto has 14,840 stars, 1,211 forks, 183 open issues and last shipped yesterday. hydra leads on adoption by 19% (17,646 vs 14,840 stars). hydra is written in Go under Apache-2.0; Logto is written in TypeScript under MPL-2.0. hydra has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, Logto 8%. Logto was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 3 topic tags (authorization, 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 | Logto | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 18K | ★ 15K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MPL-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-07-29 | 2026-11-04 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.6K | ⑂ 1.2K |
| 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 Logto if
- You want the Logto feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MPL-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Logto 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 Logto
Logto Logto is the modern, open source auth infrastructure for SaaS and AI apps. It takes the pain out of OIDC and OAuth 2.1 and makes it easy to build secure, production ready auth with multi tenancy, enterprise SSO, and RBAC. website • cloud • docs • api • blog • auth wiki • newsletter Why Logto? Built for teams scaling SaaS, AI, and agent based platforms without the usual auth headaches. With Logto, you get: Multi tenancy, enterprise SSO, and RBAC : ready to use, no workarounds. Pre built sign in flows , customizable UIs, and SDKs for 30+ frameworks. Full support for OIDC, OAuth 2.1, and SAML without the…
read the full Logto overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is hydra or Logto more popular?
hydra has 17,646 GitHub stars and Logto has 14,840. hydra has the larger community by that measure.
Are hydra and Logto free?
Both are open source. hydra is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Logto under MPL-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between hydra and Logto?
hydra is written in Go and Logto in TypeScript. 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 Logto?
Choose hydra if you want the larger community (17,646 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose Logto if its feature set, stack or MPL-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.