Ipsilon 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.
| Feature | Ipsilon | Ory Hydra |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Under-an-hour setup |
| Category | Identity & SSO | Identity & SSO |
| License | GPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Python | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, source | docker, kubernetes, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 80 | ★ 17,563 |
| First released | 2014 | 2015 |
| Replaces | Okta, PingFederate | Okta, Auth0 |
What are Ipsilon and Ory Hydra?
Ipsilon
Ipsilon is an identity provider service that supports SAML and OpenID for federated single sign-on. It plugs into existing authentication backends like FreeIPA to centralize login for web applications.
- SAML identity provider
- OpenID support
- FreeIPA integration
- Pluggable backends
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
Ipsilon vs Ory Hydra: key differences
Ipsilon is written in Python, while Ory Hydra is built with Go. Licensing differs — GPL-3.0 for Ipsilon versus Apache-2.0 for Ory Hydra. Ory Hydra is the lighter option, starting around 256 MB of RAM against 512 MB for Ipsilon. Ory Hydra has the considerably larger community, at 17,563 GitHub stars versus 80. Ory Hydra lists first-class Docker deployment; Ipsilon does not.
Why pick each one
Choose Ipsilon if…
- Good FreeIPA companion
- Federation focused
Watch out for
- Small community
- Limited recent activity
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 Ipsilon 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 Ipsilon and Ory Hydra free and open-source?
Yes. Ipsilon is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Ory Hydra under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Ipsilon and Ory Hydra with Docker?
Ipsilon: check the project docs for container support. Ory Hydra: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Ipsilon or Ory Hydra?
Ory Hydra has the smaller minimum footprint at 256 MB of RAM, compared to about 512 MB for Ipsilon. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.