head to head · open source
hydra vs pwd.sh
hydra has 17,557 GitHub stars, 1,610 forks, 98 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. pwd.sh has 1,563 stars, 136 forks, 0 open issues and last shipped 1 months ago. hydra leads on adoption by 1,023% (17,557 vs 1,563 stars). hydra is written in Go under Apache-2.0; pwd.sh is written in Shell under MIT. hydra has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, pwd.sh 9%. pwd.sh 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 | pwd.sh | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 18K | ★ 1.6K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Go | Shell |
| Last push | 2026-07-29 | 2026-08-24 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.6K | ⑂ 136 |
| 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 pwd.sh if
- You want the pwd.sh feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Shell
- You evaluated both and pwd.sh 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 pwd.sh
pwd.sh is a Bash script that manages text secrets such as passwords by storing each one in a GnuPG symmetric encrypted file, and it is for people who work in a terminal and prefer to keep their own encrypted store rather than hand it to a hosted password service.
read the full pwd.sh overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is hydra or pwd.sh more popular?
hydra has 17,557 GitHub stars and pwd.sh has 1,563. hydra has the larger community by that measure.
Are hydra and pwd.sh free?
Both are open source. hydra is licensed under Apache-2.0 and pwd.sh under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between hydra and pwd.sh?
hydra is written in Go and pwd.sh in Shell. 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 pwd.sh?
Choose hydra if you want the larger community (17,557 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose pwd.sh if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.