Ory Hydra vs Rauthy
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted identity & sso options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Rauthy
Lightweight OpenID Connect provider written in Rust
| Feature | Ory Hydra | Rauthy |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 90 · Excellent | 84 · Excellent |
| Category | Identity & SSO | Identity & SSO |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Go | Rust |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | docker, kubernetes, binary | docker, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 17,563 | ★ 1,339 |
| First released | 2015 | 2023 |
| Replaces | Okta, Auth0 | Keycloak, Auth0 |
What are Ory Hydra and Rauthy?
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
Rauthy
Rauthy is an open-source, security-focused OpenID Connect provider and single sign-on solution written in Rust. It is designed to be lightweight and fully self-hosted with minimal resource usage.
- Lightweight OIDC provider
- Passkey support
- Low memory footprint
- Single binary option
Ory Hydra vs Rauthy: key differences
Ory Hydra is written in Go, while Rauthy is built with Rust. Rauthy is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 256 MB for Ory Hydra. Ory Hydra is the more established project (first released 2015), while Rauthy arrived in 2023. Ory Hydra has the considerably larger community, at 17,563 GitHub stars versus 1,339.
Why pick each one
Choose Ory Hydra if…
- Security focused and certified
- Integrates with any user store
Watch out for
- Only handles OAuth, not user management
Choose Rauthy if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (1.3k GitHub stars)
- Written in Rust
Frequently asked questions
Is Ory Hydra or Rauthy better?
Neither is universally better. Ory Hydra has the larger community, while Rauthy is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Ory Hydra and Rauthy free and open-source?
Yes. Ory Hydra is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Rauthy under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Ory Hydra and Rauthy with Docker?
Ory Hydra: yes. Rauthy: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Ory Hydra or Rauthy?
Rauthy has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for Ory Hydra. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.