Casbin
Identity & SSOAuthorization library supporting many access control models
Replaces Auth0 RBAC
Best Lightweight Identity & SSO for self-hosting
The 11 best Lightweight identity & sso you can self-host, ranked by community traction.
LLDAP
Identity & SSOLightweight LDAP server with a simple web interface
Replaces Active Directory, OpenLDAP
Kanidm
Identity & SSOModern, simple and secure identity management server
Replaces Active Directory, Okta
Vouch Proxy
Identity & SSOSSO authentication helper for reverse proxies
Replaces Okta Access Gateway
GLAuth
Identity & SSOLightweight LDAP server for developers and small setups
Replaces Microsoft Active Directory, OpenLDAP
Traefik Forward Auth
Identity & SSOMinimal forward authentication service for Traefik
Replaces Cloudflare Access
Caddy Security
Identity & SSOAuthentication and authorization plugin for Caddy
Replaces Cloudflare Access
FreeIPA
Identity & SSOIntegrated identity management for Linux and Unix environments
Replaces Active Directory
Samba Active Directory DC
Identity & SSOOpen-source Active Directory compatible domain controller
Replaces Active Directory, Windows Server
OpenLDAP
Identity & SSOThe classic open-source Lightweight Directory Access Protocol server
Replaces Active Directory
Shibboleth Identity Provider
Identity & SSOStandards-based SAML identity provider for federations
Replaces Okta, Ping Identity
No apps match these filters.
At a glance
| App | Deploy effort | Difficulty | Min. RAM | License | ★ Stars |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Casbin | Read-the-docs project | Medium | 128 MB | Apache-2.0 | 20,452 |
| LLDAP | Under-an-hour setup | Easy | 64 MB | GPL-3.0 | 6,564 |
| Kanidm | Under-an-hour setup | Medium | 256 MB | MPL-2.0 | 5,462 |
| Vouch Proxy | Under-an-hour setup | Medium | 64 MB | MIT | 3,284 |
| GLAuth | Under-an-hour setup | Easy | 64 MB | MIT | 2,857 |
| Traefik Forward Auth | Under-an-hour setup | Easy | 64 MB | MIT | 2,391 |
| Caddy Security | Read-the-docs project | Medium | 128 MB | Apache-2.0 | 2,253 |
| FreeIPA | Read-the-docs project | Hard | 2,048 MB | GPL-3.0 | 1,295 |
| Samba Active Directory DC | Under-an-hour setup | Hard | 512 MB | GPL-3.0 | 1,000 |
| OpenLDAP | Under-an-hour setup | Hard | 128 MB | OLDAP-2.8 | 400 |
Quick picks
- Most adopted: Casbin (20,452 GitHub stars).
- Lightest footprint: LLDAP (from 64 MB RAM, against 2,048 MB for the heaviest here).
- Licensing: 3 of 11 use Apache-2.0; check the rest individually if you plan to modify and redistribute.
Every option here is open-source and self-hostable, tagged Lightweight within the identity & sso category. Deploy effort is graded from published container recipes, not vendor claims — see the methodology.