head to head · open source
hydra vs oauth2-client
hydra has 17,557 GitHub stars, 1,610 forks, 98 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. oauth2-client has 3,819 stars, 770 forks, 64 open issues and last shipped 7 days ago. hydra leads on adoption by 360% (17,557 vs 3,819 stars). hydra is written in Go under Apache-2.0; oauth2-client is written in PHP under MIT. hydra has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, oauth2-client 20%. oauth2-client was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 3 topic tags (authorization, oauth, 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 | oauth2-client | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 18K | ★ 3.8K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Go | PHP |
| Last push | 2026-07-29 | 2026-09-16 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.6K | ⑂ 770 |
| 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 oauth2-client if
- You want the oauth2-client feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches PHP
- You evaluated both and oauth2-client 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 oauth2-client
league/oauth2 client is an MIT licensed PHP library maintained by The PHP League that provides a reusable base for integrating applications with any OAuth 2.0 service provider, aimed at PHP developers who need to add "Connect with Facebook/Google" style login and token flows without implementing RFC 6749 from scratch.
read the full oauth2-client overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is hydra or oauth2-client more popular?
hydra has 17,557 GitHub stars and oauth2-client has 3,819. hydra has the larger community by that measure.
Are hydra and oauth2-client free?
Both are open source. hydra is licensed under Apache-2.0 and oauth2-client under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between hydra and oauth2-client?
hydra is written in Go and oauth2-client in PHP. 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 oauth2-client?
Choose hydra if you want the larger community (17,557 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose oauth2-client if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.