head to head · open source
thc-hydra vs rengine
thc-hydra has 12,293 GitHub stars, 2,669 forks, 50 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. rengine has 8,852 stars, 1,344 forks, 164 open issues and last shipped yesterday. thc-hydra leads on adoption by 39% (12,293 vs 8,852 stars). thc-hydra is written in C under AGPL-3.0; rengine is written in HTML under GPL-3.0. thc-hydra has attracted 22% as many forks as stars, rengine 15%. rengine 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 | rengine | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 12K | ★ 8.9K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | C | HTML |
| Last push | 2026-07-30 | 2026-09-21 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.7K | ⑂ 1.3K |
| 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 rengine if
- You want the rengine feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches HTML
- You evaluated both and rengine 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 rengine
reNgine is an open source automated reconnaissance framework for web applications, built for penetration testers, bug bounty hunters and corporate security teams who need a configurable, repeatable recon process with the results correlated and stored in one place.
read the full rengine overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is thc-hydra or rengine more popular?
thc-hydra has 12,293 GitHub stars and rengine has 8,852. thc-hydra has the larger community by that measure.
Are thc-hydra and rengine free?
Both are open source. thc-hydra is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and rengine under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between thc-hydra and rengine?
thc-hydra is written in C and rengine in HTML. 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 rengine?
Choose thc-hydra if you want the larger community (12,293 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose rengine if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.