Authgear vs Ory Hydra
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted identity & sso options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Authgear
Open-source authentication and user management server
VS
Ory Hydra
Certified OAuth 2.0 and OpenID Connect server
| Feature | Authgear | Ory Hydra |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 86 · Excellent | 90 · Excellent |
| Category | Identity & SSO | Identity & SSO |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Go | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, kubernetes | docker, kubernetes, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 2,065 | ★ 17,563 |
| First released | 2021 | 2015 |
| Replaces | Auth0, Firebase Auth | Okta, Auth0 |
What are Authgear and Ory Hydra?
Authgear
Authgear is an open-source authentication-as-a-service platform supporting passwordless login, social login, and multi-factor authentication. It is self-hosted to provide identity for web and mobile apps.
- Passwordless and social login
- Built-in MFA
- User management dashboard
- OIDC compliant
Ory Hydra
Ory Hydra is an OpenID Certified OAuth 2.0 and OpenID Connect provider. It is built to integrate with any existing identity system and issues tokens without managing user accounts itself.
- OpenID Certified implementation
- Low memory footprint
- Bring your own login and consent UI
- Scales horizontally
Authgear vs Ory Hydra: key differences
Both projects are written in Go. Ory Hydra is the lighter option, starting around 256 MB of RAM against 1,024 MB for Authgear. Ory Hydra is the more established project (first released 2015), while Authgear arrived in 2021. Ory Hydra has the considerably larger community, at 17,563 GitHub stars versus 2,065.
Why pick each one
Choose Authgear if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Kubernetes-ready with Helm charts available
- Active community (2.1k GitHub stars)
Choose Ory Hydra if…
- Security focused and certified
- Integrates with any user store
Watch out for
- Only handles OAuth, not user management
Frequently asked questions
Is Authgear or Ory Hydra better?
Neither is universally better. Ory Hydra has the larger community; both share a hard setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Authgear and Ory Hydra free and open-source?
Yes. Authgear 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 Authgear and Ory Hydra with Docker?
Authgear: yes. Ory Hydra: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Authgear or Ory Hydra?
Ory Hydra has the smaller minimum footprint at 256 MB of RAM, compared to about 1,024 MB for Authgear. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.