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Ory Hydra vs SimpleSAMLphp

A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted identity & sso options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.

Not the right match-up?
OR Ory Hydra Certified OAuth 2.0 and OpenID Connect server VS SI SimpleSAMLphp PHP implementation of SAML and identity federation
FeatureOry HydraSimpleSAMLphp
Deploy effortUnder-an-hour setupUnder-an-hour setup
Health score90 · Excellent83 · Excellent
CategoryIdentity & SSOIdentity & SSO
LicenseApache-2.0LGPL-2.1
LanguageGoPHP
Setup difficultyHardMedium
Min. RAM256 MB256 MB
Deploymentdocker, kubernetes, binarybare-metal, source, docker
GitHub stars★ 17,563★ 1,142
First released20152007
ReplacesOkta, Auth0Okta, PingFederate

What are Ory Hydra and SimpleSAMLphp?

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

Read the full Ory Hydra guide →

SimpleSAMLphp

SimpleSAMLphp is a widely used PHP application for implementing SAML 2.0 identity and service providers. It enables web single sign-on and federation for PHP environments and beyond.

  • SAML 2.0 IdP and SP
  • Identity federation
  • Many auth backends
  • Module ecosystem

Read the full SimpleSAMLphp guide →

Ory Hydra vs SimpleSAMLphp: key differences

Ory Hydra is written in Go, while SimpleSAMLphp is built with PHP. Licensing differs — Apache-2.0 for Ory Hydra versus LGPL-2.1 for SimpleSAMLphp. SimpleSAMLphp is the more established project (first released 2007), while Ory Hydra arrived in 2015. Ory Hydra has the considerably larger community, at 17,563 GitHub stars versus 1,142.

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
Ory Hydra details

Choose SimpleSAMLphp if…

  • Proven and widely deployed
  • Flexible modules

Watch out for

  • Configuration is intricate
  • PHP performance limits
SimpleSAMLphp details

Frequently asked questions

Is Ory Hydra or SimpleSAMLphp better?

Neither is universally better. Ory Hydra has the larger community, while SimpleSAMLphp is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.

Are Ory Hydra and SimpleSAMLphp free and open-source?

Yes. Ory Hydra is licensed under Apache-2.0 and SimpleSAMLphp under LGPL-2.1. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Ory Hydra and SimpleSAMLphp with Docker?

Ory Hydra: yes. SimpleSAMLphp: yes.

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