Hello Identity Coop vs Ory Kratos
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted identity & sso options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Hello Identity Coop | Ory Kratos |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 69 · Good | 89 · Excellent |
| Category | Identity & SSO | Identity & SSO |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | TypeScript | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary | docker, kubernetes, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 7 | ★ 13,888 |
| First released | 2022 | 2020 |
| Replaces | Auth0, Firebase Auth | Auth0, Firebase Auth |
What are Hello Identity Coop and Ory Kratos?
Hello Identity Coop
Hello is an open-source identity and login service that lets users authenticate with email, phone or social providers without passwords. The wallet and broker components can be self-hosted.
- Passwordless login flows
- Email, phone and social providers
- Standard OpenID Connect
- Developer SDKs and integrations
Ory Kratos
Ory Kratos is an API-first identity and user management system. It handles login, registration, profile management, account recovery and multi-factor authentication without prescribing a user interface.
- Headless API for full UI control
- Self-service flows for login and recovery
- Pluggable MFA including TOTP and WebAuthn
- Cloud-native and stateless design
Hello Identity Coop vs Ory Kratos: key differences
Hello Identity Coop is written in TypeScript, while Ory Kratos is built with Go. Licensing differs — MIT for Hello Identity Coop versus Apache-2.0 for Ory Kratos. Ory Kratos is the more established project (first released 2020), while Hello Identity Coop arrived in 2022. Ory Kratos has the considerably larger community, at 13,888 GitHub stars versus 7.
Why pick each one
Choose Hello Identity Coop if…
- Simple passwordless onboarding
- Open standards
Watch out for
- Younger project
Choose Ory Kratos if…
- Extremely flexible architecture
- Excellent for custom frontends
Watch out for
- Requires building your own UI
- Complex initial setup
Frequently asked questions
Is Hello Identity Coop or Ory Kratos better?
Neither is universally better. Ory Kratos has the larger community, while Hello Identity Coop is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Hello Identity Coop and Ory Kratos free and open-source?
Yes. Hello Identity Coop is licensed under MIT and Ory Kratos under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Hello Identity Coop and Ory Kratos with Docker?
Hello Identity Coop: yes. Ory Kratos: yes.