Authelia vs Ory Hydra
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted apps from related categories — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Not the right match-up?
Authelia
Authentication and authorization server for reverse proxies
VS
Ory Hydra
Certified OAuth 2.0 and OpenID Connect server
| Feature | Authelia | Ory Hydra |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Reverse Proxy & Gateways | Identity & SSO |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Go | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, kubernetes, binary | docker, kubernetes, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 28,514 | ★ 17,462 |
| First released | 2017 | 2015 |
| Replaces | Okta, Cloudflare Access | Okta, Auth0 |
Why pick each one
Choose Authelia if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Kubernetes-ready with Helm charts available
- Mature project with 28.5k GitHub stars
Frequently asked questions
Is Authelia or Ory Hydra better?
Authelia is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler medium setup. Consider Ory Hydra if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Authelia and Ory Hydra free and open-source?
Yes. Authelia is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Ory Hydra under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Authelia and Ory Hydra with Docker?
Authelia: yes. Ory Hydra: yes.