head to head · open source
thc-hydra vs monkey
thc-hydra has 12,461 GitHub stars, 2,695 forks, 50 open issues and last shipped 6 days ago. monkey has 7,124 stars, 822 forks, 240 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. thc-hydra leads on adoption by 75% (12,461 vs 7,124 stars). thc-hydra is written in C under AGPL-3.0; monkey is written in Python under GPL-3.0. thc-hydra has attracted 22% as many forks as stars, monkey 12%. monkey 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 | monkey | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 12K | ★ 7.1K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | C | Python |
| Last push | 2026-10-30 | 2026-11-03 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.7K | ⑂ 822 |
| 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 monkey if
- You want the monkey feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and monkey 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 monkey
Infection Monkey Welcome to Infection Monkey! We're glad you could swing by.🐒 Here's all the info you'll need to start monkeying around. What is Infection Monkey? Infection Monkey is an open source adversary emulation platform that helps you improve your security posture using empirical data. The Monkey uses various methods to self propagate across a network and reports its activities to a centralized command and control server known as the Monkey Island. 🐵🏝️ You know, like malware, but ✨safe.✨ How does it work? Infection Monkey is comprised of two components: Agent A configurable network worm that can infect…
read the full monkey overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is thc-hydra or monkey more popular?
thc-hydra has 12,461 GitHub stars and monkey has 7,124. thc-hydra has the larger community by that measure.
Are thc-hydra and monkey free?
Both are open source. thc-hydra is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and monkey under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between thc-hydra and monkey?
thc-hydra is written in C and monkey 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 monkey?
Choose thc-hydra if you want the larger community (12,461 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose monkey if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.