head to head · open source
hydra vs samlify
hydra has 17,646 GitHub stars, 1,619 forks, 98 open issues and last shipped 3 months ago. samlify has 663 stars, 235 forks, 53 open issues and last shipped 15 days ago. hydra leads on adoption by 2,562% (17,646 vs 663 stars). hydra is written in Go under Apache-2.0; samlify is written in TypeScript under MIT. hydra has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, samlify 35%. samlify 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 | samlify | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 18K | ★ 663 |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Go | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-07-29 | 2026-10-21 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.6K | ⑂ 235 |
| 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 samlify if
- You want the samlify feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and samlify 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 samlify
samlify · Highly configuarable Node.js SAML 2.0 library for Single Sign On Welcome PRs Welcome all PRs for maintaining this project, or provide a link to the repositories especially for use cases alongside with different frameworks. Installation Multiple schema validators are currently supported by our system, with couple validator modules available and the option to create custom ones. It is essential to utilize the setSchemaValidator function at the outset to avoid errors. Now you can create your own schema validator and even suppress it but you have to take the risk for accepting malicious response…
read the full samlify overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is hydra or samlify more popular?
hydra has 17,646 GitHub stars and samlify has 663. hydra has the larger community by that measure.
Are hydra and samlify free?
Both are open source. hydra is licensed under Apache-2.0 and samlify under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between hydra and samlify?
hydra is written in Go and samlify 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 samlify?
Choose hydra if you want the larger community (17,646 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose samlify if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.