head to head · open source
hydra vs privacyidea
hydra has 17,646 GitHub stars, 1,619 forks, 98 open issues and last shipped 3 months ago. privacyidea has 1,790 stars, 369 forks, 193 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. hydra leads on adoption by 886% (17,646 vs 1,790 stars). hydra is written in Go under Apache-2.0; privacyidea is written in Python under AGPL-3.0. hydra has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, privacyidea 21%. privacyidea 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.
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Side by side
| hydra | privacyidea | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 18K | ★ 1.8K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Go | Python |
| Last push | 2026-07-29 | 2026-11-03 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.6K | ⑂ 369 |
| 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 privacyidea if
- You want the privacyidea feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and privacyidea 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 privacyidea
.. .. image:: .. :alt: CircleCI .. :target: Backend cov backend Frontend cov frontend .. cov backend image:: :alt: Backend coverage :target: .. cov frontend image:: :alt: Frontend coverage :target: .. .. image:: .. :alt: Downloads .. :target: .. image:: :alt: Latest Version :target: .. image:: :alt: PyPI Python Version :target: .. image:: :alt: License :target: .. image:: :alt: Documentation :target: .. .. image:: .. :alt: Code Climate .. :target: .. .. image:: :alt: Codacy Badge :target: privacyIDEA: Open Source Multi Factor Authentication ==================================================== privacyIDEA is an…
read the full privacyidea overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is hydra or privacyidea more popular?
hydra has 17,646 GitHub stars and privacyidea has 1,790. hydra has the larger community by that measure.
Are hydra and privacyidea free?
Both are open source. hydra is licensed under Apache-2.0 and privacyidea under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between hydra and privacyidea?
hydra is written in Go and privacyidea in Python. 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 privacyidea?
Choose hydra if you want the larger community (17,646 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose privacyidea if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.