Authorizer vs node-oidc-provider
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted identity & sso options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Authorizer | node-oidc-provider |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 85 · Excellent | 88 · Excellent |
| Category | Identity & SSO | Identity & SSO |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Language | Go | JavaScript |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary | source, docker |
| GitHub stars | ★ 2,005 | ★ 3,816 |
| First released | 2021 | 2016 |
| Replaces | Auth0, Firebase Authentication | Auth0, Okta |
What are Authorizer and node-oidc-provider?
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
node-oidc-provider
node-oidc-provider is an open-source, certified OpenID Connect and OAuth 2.0 provider implementation for Node.js. It can be self-hosted to issue tokens and act as an identity provider for applications.
- Certified OIDC provider
- OAuth 2.0 support
- Embeddable in Node apps
- Standards compliant
Authorizer vs node-oidc-provider: key differences
Authorizer is written in Go, while node-oidc-provider is built with JavaScript. Licensing differs — Apache-2.0 for Authorizer versus MIT for node-oidc-provider. Node-oidc-provider is the more established project (first released 2016), while Authorizer arrived in 2021.
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 node-oidc-provider if…
- Released under the MIT license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (3.8k GitHub stars)
- Written in JavaScript
Frequently asked questions
Is Authorizer or node-oidc-provider better?
Neither is universally better. node-oidc-provider 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 node-oidc-provider free and open-source?
Yes. Authorizer is licensed under Apache-2.0 and node-oidc-provider under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Authorizer and node-oidc-provider with Docker?
Authorizer: yes. node-oidc-provider: yes.