head to head · open source
thc-hydra vs vuls
thc-hydra has 12,289 GitHub stars, 2,668 forks, 50 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. vuls has 12,265 stars, 1,243 forks, 92 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. thc-hydra leads on adoption by 0% (12,289 vs 12,265 stars). thc-hydra is written in C under AGPL-3.0; vuls is written in Go under GPL-3.0. thc-hydra has attracted 22% as many forks as stars, vuls 10%. vuls was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
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 | vuls | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 12K | ★ 12K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | C | Go |
| Last push | 2026-07-30 | 2026-09-19 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.7K | ⑂ 1.2K |
| 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 vuls if
- You want the vuls feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and vuls 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 vuls
Vuls is an agent less vulnerability scanner written in Go and licensed under GPL 3.0, aimed at system administrators and security teams that must find and track known vulnerabilities across Linux, FreeBSD, Windows and macOS hosts, containers, WordPress installs, programming language libraries and network devices without installing an agent on every machine.
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Frequently asked questions
Is thc-hydra or vuls more popular?
thc-hydra has 12,289 GitHub stars and vuls has 12,265. thc-hydra has the larger community by that measure.
Are thc-hydra and vuls free?
Both are open source. thc-hydra is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and vuls under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between thc-hydra and vuls?
thc-hydra is written in C and vuls 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 vuls?
Choose thc-hydra if you want the larger community (12,289 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose vuls if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.