head to head · open source
hydra vs lesspass
hydra has 17,553 GitHub stars, 1,609 forks, 98 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. lesspass has 6,062 stars, 365 forks, 34 open issues and last shipped 7 days ago. hydra leads on adoption by 190% (17,553 vs 6,062 stars). hydra is written in Go under Apache-2.0; lesspass is written in TypeScript under GPL-3.0. hydra has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, lesspass 6%. lesspass 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 | lesspass | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 18K | ★ 6.1K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Go | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-07-29 | 2026-09-13 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.6K | ⑂ 365 |
| 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 lesspass if
- You want the lesspass feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and lesspass 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 lesspass
LessPass is a stateless, open source password manager written in TypeScript and licensed under GPL 3.0 that generates passwords from a master password instead of storing them in a synchronized vault, built for individuals and self hosters who want the same passwords on every device without syncing an encrypted database.
read the full lesspass overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is hydra or lesspass more popular?
hydra has 17,553 GitHub stars and lesspass has 6,062. hydra has the larger community by that measure.
Are hydra and lesspass free?
Both are open source. hydra is licensed under Apache-2.0 and lesspass under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between hydra and lesspass?
hydra is written in Go and lesspass 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 lesspass?
Choose hydra if you want the larger community (17,553 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose lesspass if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.