head to head · open source
hydra vs oauth2-proxy
hydra has 17,553 GitHub stars, 1,609 forks, 98 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. oauth2-proxy has 14,982 stars, 2,196 forks, 285 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. hydra leads on adoption by 17% (17,553 vs 14,982 stars). hydra is written in Go under Apache-2.0; oauth2-proxy is written in Go under MIT. hydra has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, oauth2-proxy 15%. oauth2-proxy was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (hacktoberfest, oauth2), 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 | oauth2-proxy | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 18K | ★ 15K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Go | Go |
| Last push | 2026-07-29 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.6K | ⑂ 2.2K |
| 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 oauth2-proxy if
- You want the oauth2-proxy feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and oauth2-proxy 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 oauth2-proxy
OAuth2 Proxy is an open source, MIT licensed reverse proxy and middleware written in Go that puts OAuth2 and OpenID Connect authentication in front of web applications, aimed at operators and platform teams who need single sign on without adding auth code to every app.
read the full oauth2-proxy overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is hydra or oauth2-proxy more popular?
hydra has 17,553 GitHub stars and oauth2-proxy has 14,982. hydra has the larger community by that measure.
Are hydra and oauth2-proxy free?
Both are open source. hydra is licensed under Apache-2.0 and oauth2-proxy under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between hydra and oauth2-proxy?
hydra is written in Go and oauth2-proxy 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, hydra or oauth2-proxy?
Choose hydra if you want the larger community (17,553 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose oauth2-proxy if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.