head to head · open source
hydra vs SuperTokens
hydra has 17,553 GitHub stars, 1,609 forks, 98 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. SuperTokens has 15,315 stars, 842 forks, 155 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. hydra leads on adoption by 15% (17,553 vs 15,315 stars). hydra is written in Go under Apache-2.0; SuperTokens is written in Java under a custom or non-standard licence. hydra has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, SuperTokens 5%. SuperTokens was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (hacktoberfest, oauth), 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 | SuperTokens | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 18K | ★ 15K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Custom / other |
| Written in | Go | Java |
| Last push | 2026-07-29 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.6K | ⑂ 842 |
| 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 SuperTokens if
- You want the SuperTokens feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You evaluated both and SuperTokens 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 SuperTokens
SuperTokens is an open source authentication and session management platform for applications that need login, sign up, sign out, and user data control. It sits in the identity and access management ecosystem and is described as an alternative to Auth0, Firebase Auth, and AWS Cognito. It separates work into a frontend SDK, a backend SDK, and a Java based SuperTokens Core service that handles authentication logic and database operations.
read the full SuperTokens overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is hydra or SuperTokens more popular?
hydra has 17,553 GitHub stars and SuperTokens has 15,315. hydra has the larger community by that measure.
Are hydra and SuperTokens free?
Both are open source. hydra is licensed under Apache-2.0, and SuperTokens has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between hydra and SuperTokens?
hydra is written in Go and SuperTokens in Java. 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 SuperTokens?
Choose hydra if you want the larger community (17,553 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose SuperTokens if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.