SHSelfHostIndex

Ory Hydra vs SpiceDB

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 SP SpiceDB Open-source Zanzibar-inspired permissions database
FeatureOry HydraSpiceDB
CategoryIdentity & SSOIdentity & SSO
LicenseApache-2.0Apache-2.0
LanguageGoGo
Setup difficultyHardHard
Min. RAM256 MB512 MB
Deploymentdocker, kubernetes, binarydocker, kubernetes, binary
GitHub stars★ 17,462★ 6,947
First released20152021
ReplacesOkta, Auth0Auth0 FGA, OpenFGA

Why pick each one

Choose Ory Hydra if…

  • Security focused and certified
  • Integrates with any user store
Ory Hydra details

Choose SpiceDB if…

  • Released under the Apache-2.0 license
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • Kubernetes-ready with Helm charts available
  • Mature project with 6.9k GitHub stars
SpiceDB details

Frequently asked questions

Is Ory Hydra or SpiceDB 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 Ory Hydra and SpiceDB free and open-source?

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

Can I run Ory Hydra and SpiceDB with Docker?

Ory Hydra: yes. SpiceDB: yes.

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