Caddy Security vs Apereo CAS
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?
Caddy Security
Authentication and authorization plugin for Caddy
VS
Apereo CAS
Enterprise single sign-on server for web applications
| Feature | Caddy Security | Apereo CAS |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Identity & SSO | Identity & SSO |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Go | Java |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 1,024 MB |
| Deployment | binary, source | docker, kubernetes, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 2,213 | ★ 11,354 |
| First released | 2021 | 2004 |
| Replaces | Cloudflare Access | Okta, Ping Identity |
Why pick each one
Choose Caddy Security if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- Active community (2.2k GitHub stars)
- Written in Go
- Tiny footprint — runs in 128 MB RAM
Choose Apereo CAS if…
- Mature SSO with broad protocol support
- Widely adopted in academia
Frequently asked questions
Is Caddy Security or Apereo CAS better?
Neither is universally better. Apereo CAS has the larger community, while Caddy Security is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Caddy Security and Apereo CAS free and open-source?
Yes. Caddy Security is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Apereo CAS under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Caddy Security and Apereo CAS with Docker?
Caddy Security: check the project docs for container support. Apereo CAS: yes.