head to head · open source
thc-hydra vs evillimiter
thc-hydra has 12,356 GitHub stars, 2,679 forks, 50 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. evillimiter has 2,024 stars, 365 forks, 28 open issues and last shipped 7 months ago. thc-hydra leads on adoption by 510% (12,356 vs 2,024 stars). thc-hydra is written in C under AGPL-3.0; evillimiter is written in Python under MIT. thc-hydra has attracted 22% as many forks as stars, evillimiter 18%. 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 | evillimiter | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 12K | ★ 2.0K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | C | Python |
| Last push | 2026-07-30 | 2026-03-24 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.7K | ⑂ 365 |
| 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 evillimiter if
- You want the evillimiter feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and evillimiter fits your workflow better
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 →
About evillimiter
Evil Limiter is a command line tool for Linux that lets a network administrator or pentester monitor, analyze, throttle, and block the bandwidth of individual devices on their local network without physical or administrative access to those devices.
read the full evillimiter overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is thc-hydra or evillimiter more popular?
thc-hydra has 12,356 GitHub stars and evillimiter has 2,024. thc-hydra has the larger community by that measure.
Are thc-hydra and evillimiter free?
Both are open source. thc-hydra is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and evillimiter under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between thc-hydra and evillimiter?
thc-hydra is written in C and evillimiter in Python. 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 evillimiter?
Choose thc-hydra if you want the larger community (12,356 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose evillimiter if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.