head to head · open source
hydra vs pocket-id
hydra has 17,553 GitHub stars, 1,609 forks, 98 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. pocket-id has 9,230 stars, 312 forks, 98 open issues and last shipped yesterday. hydra leads on adoption by 90% (17,553 vs 9,230 stars). hydra is written in Go under Apache-2.0; pocket-id is written in Go under BSD-2-Clause. hydra has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, pocket-id 3%. pocket-id 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 | pocket-id | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 18K | ★ 9.2K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | BSD-2-Clause |
| Written in | Go | Go |
| Last push | 2026-07-29 | 2026-09-19 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.6K | ⑂ 312 |
| 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 pocket-id if
- You want the pocket-id feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the BSD-2-Clause license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and pocket-id 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 pocket-id
Pocket ID is a self hosted, OpenID Connect Certified™ and OAuth 2.0 provider, written in Go, that authenticates users with passkeys and passwords never, aimed at anyone who wants single sign on for their own applications without standing up a heavyweight identity platform.
read the full pocket-id overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is hydra or pocket-id more popular?
hydra has 17,553 GitHub stars and pocket-id has 9,230. hydra has the larger community by that measure.
Are hydra and pocket-id free?
Both are open source. hydra is licensed under Apache-2.0 and pocket-id under BSD-2-Clause. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between hydra and pocket-id?
hydra is written in Go and pocket-id 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 pocket-id?
Choose hydra if you want the larger community (17,553 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose pocket-id if its feature set, stack or BSD-2-Clause licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.