SHSelfHostIndex

Apereo CAS vs LemonLDAP::NG

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?
AP Apereo CAS Enterprise single sign-on server for web applications VS LE LemonLDAP::NG Web single sign-on and access management system
FeatureApereo CASLemonLDAP::NG
Deploy effortUnder-an-hour setupUnder-an-hour setup
Health score93 · Excellent41 · Fair
CategoryIdentity & SSOIdentity & SSO
LicenseApache-2.0GPL-2.0
LanguageJavaPerl
Setup difficultyHardHard
Min. RAM1,024 MB1,024 MB
Deploymentdocker, kubernetes, bare-metaldocker, bare-metal
GitHub stars★ 11,374★ 84
First released20042005
ReplacesOkta, Ping IdentityOkta, PingFederate

What are Apereo CAS and LemonLDAP::NG?

Apereo CAS

Apereo CAS is an open-source, enterprise single sign-on solution and identity provider. Widely used in higher education, it supports the CAS protocol along with SAML, OAuth2 and OpenID Connect.

  • CAS, SAML, OAuth2 and OIDC protocols
  • Multi-factor authentication
  • Pluggable authentication handlers
  • Delegated and federated authentication

Read the full Apereo CAS guide →

LemonLDAP::NG

LemonLDAP::NG is an open-source Web SSO, access management, and identity federation product. It supports SAML, OpenID Connect, and CAS, and protects web applications behind a configurable portal.

  • Web SSO portal
  • SAML and OIDC support
  • CAS protocol
  • Fine-grained access rules

Apereo CAS vs LemonLDAP::NG: key differences

Apereo CAS is written in Java, while LemonLDAP::NG is built with Perl. Licensing differs — Apache-2.0 for Apereo CAS versus GPL-2.0 for LemonLDAP::NG. Apereo CAS has the considerably larger community, at 11,374 GitHub stars versus 84.

Why pick each one

Choose Apereo CAS if…

  • Mature SSO with broad protocol support
  • Widely adopted in academia

Watch out for

  • Configuration is involved
Apereo CAS details

Choose LemonLDAP::NG if…

  • Mature and full-featured
  • Many protocol options

Watch out for

  • Complex configuration
  • Perl stack is uncommon
LemonLDAP::NG details

Frequently asked questions

Is Apereo CAS or LemonLDAP::NG better?

Neither is universally better. Apereo CAS has the larger community; both share a hard setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.

Are Apereo CAS and LemonLDAP::NG free and open-source?

Yes. Apereo CAS is licensed under Apache-2.0 and LemonLDAP::NG under GPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Apereo CAS and LemonLDAP::NG with Docker?

Apereo CAS: yes. LemonLDAP::NG: yes.

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