Logto 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.
Logto
Developer-friendly authentication and authorization platform
VS
Ory Hydra
Certified OAuth 2.0 and OpenID Connect server
| Feature | Logto | Ory Hydra |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 94 · Excellent | 90 · Excellent |
| Category | Identity & SSO | Identity & SSO |
| License | MPL-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | TypeScript | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, kubernetes, binary | docker, kubernetes, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 14,621 | ★ 17,563 |
| First released | 2022 | 2015 |
| Replaces | Auth0, Firebase Auth, Clerk | Okta, Auth0 |
What are Logto and Ory Hydra?
Logto
Logto is an open-source identity solution built for developers, offering passwordless sign-in, social login and enterprise SSO. It provides prebuilt sign-in experiences and SDKs for many frameworks.
- Prebuilt customizable sign-in experiences
- Passwordless and social authentication
- Multi-framework SDKs
- Role-based access control
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
Logto vs Ory Hydra: key differences
Logto is written in TypeScript, while Ory Hydra is built with Go. Licensing differs — MPL-2.0 for Logto versus Apache-2.0 for Ory Hydra. Ory Hydra is the lighter option, starting around 256 MB of RAM against 512 MB for Logto. Ory Hydra is the more established project (first released 2015), while Logto arrived in 2022.
Why pick each one
Choose Logto if…
- Great developer experience
- Modern UI and SDKs
Watch out for
- Younger project with evolving APIs
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 Logto or Ory Hydra better?
Neither is universally better. Ory Hydra has the larger community, while Logto is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Logto and Ory Hydra free and open-source?
Yes. Logto 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 Logto and Ory Hydra with Docker?
Logto: yes. Ory Hydra: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Logto or Ory Hydra?
Ory Hydra has the smaller minimum footprint at 256 MB of RAM, compared to about 512 MB for Logto. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.