head to head · open source
hydra vs pocket-id
hydra has 17,646 GitHub stars, 1,619 forks, 98 open issues and last shipped 3 months ago. pocket-id has 9,965 stars, 349 forks, 98 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. hydra leads on adoption by 77% (17,646 vs 9,965 stars). hydra is written in Go under Apache-2.0; pocket-id is written in Go under BSD-2-Clause. hydra has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, pocket-id 4%. pocket-id 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
| hydra | pocket-id | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 18K | ★ 10.0K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | BSD-2-Clause |
| Written in | Go | Go |
| Last push | 2026-07-29 | 2026-11-03 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.6K | ⑂ 349 |
| 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 pocket-id if
- You want the pocket-id feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the BSD-2-Clause license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and pocket-id 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 pocket-id
Pocket ID Pocket ID is an easy to use OpenID Connect Certified™ and OAuth 2.0 provider that lets users sign in to your applications with passkeys. → Try out the Demo The goal of Pocket ID is to be a simple and easy to use. There are other self hosted OIDC and OAuth 2.0 providers like Keycloak or ORY Hydra but they are often too complex for simple use cases. Additionally, what makes Pocket ID special is that it only supports passkey authentication, which means you don’t need a password. Some people might not like this idea at first, but I believe passkeys are the future, and once you try them, you’ll love them…
read the full pocket-id overview →
More in Security & Privacy
Related comparisons
More Identity & Access Management (IAM) projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Identity & Access Management (IAM) field.
Frequently asked questions
Is hydra or pocket-id more popular?
hydra has 17,646 GitHub stars and pocket-id has 9,965. hydra has the larger community by that measure.
Are hydra and pocket-id free?
Both are open source. hydra is licensed under Apache-2.0 and pocket-id under BSD-2-Clause. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between hydra and pocket-id?
hydra is written in Go and pocket-id 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 pocket-id?
Choose hydra if you want the larger community (17,646 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose pocket-id if its feature set, stack or BSD-2-Clause licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.