Caddy Security vs Ory Kratos
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
Ory Kratos
Headless identity and user management API server
| Feature | Caddy Security | Ory Kratos |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Identity & SSO | Identity & SSO |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Go | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | binary, source | docker, kubernetes, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 2,213 | ★ 13,815 |
| First released | 2021 | 2020 |
| Replaces | Cloudflare Access | Auth0, Firebase Auth |
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 Ory Kratos if…
- Extremely flexible architecture
- Excellent for custom frontends
Frequently asked questions
Is Caddy Security or Ory Kratos better?
Neither is universally better. Ory Kratos 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 Ory Kratos free and open-source?
Yes. Caddy Security is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Ory Kratos under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Caddy Security and Ory Kratos with Docker?
Caddy Security: check the project docs for container support. Ory Kratos: yes.