Kanidm 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.
Kanidm
Modern, simple and secure identity management server
VS
Ory Hydra
Certified OAuth 2.0 and OpenID Connect server
| Feature | Kanidm | Ory Hydra |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 90 · Excellent | 90 · Excellent |
| Category | Identity & SSO | Identity & SSO |
| License | MPL-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Rust | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary | docker, kubernetes, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 5,404 | ★ 17,563 |
| First released | 2019 | 2015 |
| Replaces | Active Directory, Okta | Okta, Auth0 |
What are Kanidm and Ory Hydra?
Kanidm
Kanidm is an identity management platform written in Rust, focused on simplicity, security and correctness. It provides authentication for web applications, Unix systems and LDAP-aware services.
- OAuth2 and OpenID Connect provider
- Passkey-first authentication
- Unix and LDAP integration
- Strong security defaults
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
Kanidm vs Ory Hydra: key differences
Kanidm is written in Rust, while Ory Hydra is built with Go. Licensing differs — MPL-2.0 for Kanidm versus Apache-2.0 for Ory Hydra. Ory Hydra is the more established project (first released 2015), while Kanidm arrived in 2019. Ory Hydra has the considerably larger community, at 17,563 GitHub stars versus 5,404.
Why pick each one
Choose Kanidm if…
- Memory safe and lightweight
- Excellent passwordless support
Watch out for
- Smaller ecosystem and tooling
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 Kanidm or Ory Hydra better?
Neither is universally better. Ory Hydra has the larger community, while Kanidm is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Kanidm and Ory Hydra free and open-source?
Yes. Kanidm is licensed under MPL-2.0 and Ory Hydra under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Kanidm and Ory Hydra with Docker?
Kanidm: yes. Ory Hydra: yes.