head to head · open source
Ory vs polis
Ory has 13,951 GitHub stars, 1,211 forks, 224 open issues and last shipped 3 months ago. polis has 2,272 stars, 239 forks, 35 open issues and last shipped 4 months ago. Ory leads on adoption by 514% (13,951 vs 2,272 stars). Ory is written in Go under Apache-2.0; polis is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0. Ory has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, polis 11%. Ory was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (hacktoberfest), 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
| Ory | polis | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 14K | ★ 2.3K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-07-29 | 2026-07-27 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.2K | ⑂ 239 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Ory if
- You weight community size — 14K 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 polis if
- You want the polis feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and polis fits your workflow better
About Ory
Chat · Discussions · Newsletter · Docs · Try Ory Network · Jobs Ory Kratos is an API first identity and user management system for cloud native applications. It centralizes login, registration, recovery, verification, and profile management flows so your services consume them instead of reimplementing them. Table of contents What is Ory Kratos? Why Ory Kratos Migrating from Auth0, Okta, and similar providers Deployment options Use Ory Kratos on the Ory Network Self host Ory Kratos Quickstart Who is using it? What is Ory Kratos? Ory Kratos is an API first identity and user management system that follows cloud…
About polis
Ory polis Open source Enterprise SSO and Directory Sync Chat Discussions Newsletter Guide API Docs Support this project! Work in Open Source, Ory is hiring! Ory Polis formerly known as BoxyHQ Jackson bridges or proxies a SAML login flow to OAuth 2.0 or OpenID Connect, abstracting away all the complexities of the SAML protocol. It also supports Directory Sync via the SCIM 2.0 protocol for automatic user and group provisioning/de provisioning. Ory Polis also supports OpenID Connect providers. Ory Polis on the Ory Network The Ory Network is the fastest, most secure and worry free way to use Ory's Services. SAML &…
read the full polis overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Ory or polis more popular?
Ory has 13,951 GitHub stars and polis has 2,272. Ory has the larger community by that measure.
Are Ory and polis free?
Both are open source. Ory is licensed under Apache-2.0 and polis under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Ory and polis?
Ory is written in Go and polis 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, Ory or polis?
Choose Ory if you want the larger community (13,951 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose polis if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.