head to head · open source
Medusa vs hydra
Medusa has 36,384 GitHub stars, 5,270 forks, 194 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. hydra has 17,553 stars, 1,609 forks, 98 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. Medusa leads on adoption by 107% (36,384 vs 17,553 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 14% 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 | ★ 36K | ★ 18K |
| License | Custom / other | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-07-29 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.3K | ⑂ 1.6K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Medusa if
- You weight community size — 36K 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 is an open source e commerce framework built with Node.js and TypeScript that enables developers to construct custom commerce applications without rebuilding core commerce logic. It provides modular, pluggable backend services for products, orders, inventory, payments, and customer management, all exposed via REST and GraphQL APIs. Medusa lives in the JavaScript/Node.js ecosystem and targets developers who need full control over their storefronts and business logic while relying on battle tested, open source primitives.
read the full Medusa overview →
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 →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Medusa or hydra more popular?
Medusa has 36,384 GitHub stars and hydra has 17,553. 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 (36,384 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.