head to head · open source
hydra vs TheIdServer
hydra has 17,595 GitHub stars, 1,608 forks, 98 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. TheIdServer has 756 stars, 92 forks, 2 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. hydra leads on adoption by 2,227% (17,595 vs 756 stars). hydra is written in Go under Apache-2.0; TheIdServer is written in C# under Apache-2.0. hydra has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, TheIdServer 12%. TheIdServer was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 3 topic tags (oauth, oauth2, oauth2-server), 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 | TheIdServer | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 18K | ★ 756 |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | C# |
| Last push | 2026-07-29 | 2026-10-05 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.6K | ⑂ 92 |
| 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 TheIdServer if
- You want the TheIdServer feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C#
- You evaluated both and TheIdServer 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 TheIdServer
TheIdServer is an open source identity and access management server for .NET teams that need to issue OpenID/Connect, OAuth2, WS Federation and SAML 2.0 tokens from a single self hosted system with a browser based admin interface.
read the full TheIdServer overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is hydra or TheIdServer more popular?
hydra has 17,595 GitHub stars and TheIdServer has 756. hydra has the larger community by that measure.
Are hydra and TheIdServer free?
Both are open source. hydra is licensed under Apache-2.0 and TheIdServer under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between hydra and TheIdServer?
hydra is written in Go and TheIdServer in C#. 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 TheIdServer?
Choose hydra if you want the larger community (17,595 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose TheIdServer if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.