head to head · open source
thc-hydra vs artex-global
thc-hydra has 12,454 GitHub stars, 2,690 forks, 50 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. artex-global has 2,532 stars, 2,521 forks, 12 open issues and last shipped 20 days ago. thc-hydra leads on adoption by 392% (12,454 vs 2,532 stars). thc-hydra is written in C under AGPL-3.0; artex-global is written in Go under AGPL-3.0. thc-hydra has attracted 22% as many forks as stars, artex-global 100%. thc-hydra was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (penetration-testing), 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
| thc-hydra | artex-global | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 12K | ★ 2.5K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | C | Go |
| Last push | 2026-10-30 | 2026-10-14 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.7K | ⑂ 2.5K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick thc-hydra if
- You weight community size — 12K stars and counting
- You want the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick artex-global if
- You want the artex-global feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and artex-global fits your workflow better
About thc-hydra
H Y D R A (c) 2001 2023 by van Hauser / THC Many modules were written by David (dot) Maciejak @ gmail (dot) com BFG code by Jan Dlabal Licensed under AGPLv3 (see LICENSE file) Please do not use in military or secret service organizations, or for illegal purposes. (This is the wish of the author and non binding. Many people working in these organizations do not care for laws and ethics anyway. You are not one of the "good" ones if you ignore this.) NOTE: No, this is not meant to be a markdown doc! old school! Hydra in the most current GitHub state can be directly downloaded via Docker: INTRODUCTION Number one of…
read the full thc-hydra overview →
About artex-global
ARTEX — Global Edition An autonomous penetration testing system driven by LLM multi agents (Go backend + Next.js frontend) The UI and generated output default to English, and can be switched to Korean, Chinese, Spanish or Japanese in Settings (System → Settings → Display language). Changing the language also changes the language of agent generated reports, summaries and chat replies. English · 한국어 · 中文 · Español · 日本語 🚨 Security & misuse warning — read this first This repository is published for use only within authorized environments, and only to build defensive and detection capabilities. ARTEX is an…
read the full artex-global overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is thc-hydra or artex-global more popular?
thc-hydra has 12,454 GitHub stars and artex-global has 2,532. thc-hydra has the larger community by that measure.
Are thc-hydra and artex-global free?
Both are open source. thc-hydra is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and artex-global under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between thc-hydra and artex-global?
thc-hydra is written in C and artex-global 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, thc-hydra or artex-global?
Choose thc-hydra if you want the larger community (12,454 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose artex-global if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.