head to head · open source
ProjectDiscovery vs thc-hydra
ProjectDiscovery has 31,387 GitHub stars, 3,879 forks, 107 open issues and last shipped yesterday. thc-hydra has 12,289 stars, 2,668 forks, 50 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. ProjectDiscovery leads on adoption by 155% (31,387 vs 12,289 stars). ProjectDiscovery is written in Go under MIT; thc-hydra is written in C under AGPL-3.0. ProjectDiscovery has attracted 12% as many forks as stars, thc-hydra 22%. ProjectDiscovery 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
| ProjectDiscovery | thc-hydra | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 31K | ★ 12K |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Go | C |
| Last push | 2026-09-21 | 2026-07-30 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.9K | ⑂ 2.7K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick ProjectDiscovery if
- You weight community size — 31K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick thc-hydra if
- You want the thc-hydra feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C
- You evaluated both and thc-hydra fits your workflow better
About ProjectDiscovery
Nuclei is a high performance, open source vulnerability scanner built by ProjectDiscovery, part of the ProjectDiscovery ecosystem. It operates as a CLI tool using a simple YAML based DSL to define custom vulnerability checks, enabling precise, real world exploitation simulation to eliminate false positives.
read the full ProjectDiscovery overview →
About thc-hydra
Hydra is an AGPL 3.0 licensed, C based login cracker that attacks dozens of network protocols in parallel, built for security researchers and penetration testing consultants who need to demonstrate how easily a remote system can be reached with weak credentials.
read the full thc-hydra overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is ProjectDiscovery or thc-hydra more popular?
ProjectDiscovery has 31,387 GitHub stars and thc-hydra has 12,289. ProjectDiscovery has the larger community by that measure.
Are ProjectDiscovery and thc-hydra free?
Both are open source. ProjectDiscovery is licensed under MIT and thc-hydra under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between ProjectDiscovery and thc-hydra?
ProjectDiscovery is written in Go and thc-hydra in C. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, ProjectDiscovery or thc-hydra?
Choose ProjectDiscovery if you want the larger community (31,387 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose thc-hydra if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.