head to head · open source
Medusa vs hydra
Medusa has 37,082 GitHub stars, 5,492 forks, 194 open issues and last shipped yesterday. hydra has 17,647 stars, 1,619 forks, 98 open issues and last shipped 3 months ago. Medusa leads on adoption by 110% (37,082 vs 17,647 stars). Medusa is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence; hydra is written in Go under Apache-2.0. Medusa has attracted 15% as many forks as stars, hydra 9%. Medusa 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
| Medusa | hydra | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 37K | ★ 18K |
| License | Custom / other | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Go |
| Last push | 2026-11-04 | 2026-07-29 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.5K | ⑂ 1.6K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Medusa if
- You weight community size — 37K stars and counting
- You want the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick hydra if
- You want the hydra feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and hydra fits your workflow better
About Medusa
Medusa Documentation Website Building blocks for digital commerce Getting Started The fastest way to get started is with Medusa Cloud. It provides a managed environment optimized for Medusa applications, with automated deployments, scaling, and maintenance. Get started on Medusa Cloud To set up a Medusa application locally, visit the Documentation. About Medusa Medusa is a commerce platform with a built in framework for customization that allows you to build custom commerce applications without reinventing core commerce logic. The framework and modules can be used to support advanced B2B or DTC commerce stores…
read the full Medusa overview →
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 →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Medusa or hydra more popular?
Medusa has 37,082 GitHub stars and hydra has 17,647. Medusa has the larger community by that measure.
Are Medusa and hydra free?
Both are open source. Medusa has no licence declared in this registry, and hydra is licensed under Apache-2.0. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Medusa and hydra?
Medusa is written in TypeScript and hydra 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, Medusa or hydra?
Choose Medusa if you want the larger community (37,082 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose hydra if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.