Authorizer vs Hanko
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted identity & sso options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Hanko
Passkey-first authentication for modern applications
| Feature | Authorizer | Hanko |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 85 · Excellent | 92 · Excellent |
| Category | Identity & SSO | Identity & SSO |
| License | Apache-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | Go | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary | docker, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 2,005 | ★ 9,036 |
| First released | 2021 | 2022 |
| Replaces | Auth0, Firebase Authentication | Auth0, Clerk |
What are Authorizer and Hanko?
Authorizer
Authorizer is a self-hosted authentication and authorization service that provides social login, email and OTP login, and roles through a GraphQL API. It ships with prebuilt login pages and SDKs.
- Social and email login
- GraphQL auth API
- Prebuilt login UI
- Role-based access control
Hanko
Hanko is an open-source authentication solution built around passkeys and passwordless login. It can be self-hosted to provide modern, phishing-resistant authentication to web and mobile applications.
- Passkey-first login
- Passwordless flows
- Embeddable web component
- Self-hosted API
Authorizer vs Hanko: key differences
Both projects are written in Go. Licensing differs — Apache-2.0 for Authorizer versus AGPL-3.0 for Hanko. Authorizer is the lighter option, starting around 256 MB of RAM against 512 MB for Hanko. Hanko has the considerably larger community, at 9,036 GitHub stars versus 2,005.
Why pick each one
Choose Authorizer if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (2k GitHub stars)
Choose Hanko if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 9k GitHub stars
- Written in Go
Frequently asked questions
Is Authorizer or Hanko better?
Neither is universally better. Hanko has the larger community, while Authorizer is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Authorizer and Hanko free and open-source?
Yes. Authorizer is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Hanko under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Authorizer and Hanko with Docker?
Authorizer: yes. Hanko: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Authorizer or Hanko?
Authorizer has the smaller minimum footprint at 256 MB of RAM, compared to about 512 MB for Hanko. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.