Apereo CAS 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 | Apereo CAS | node-oidc-provider |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 93 · Excellent | 88 · Excellent |
| Category | Identity & SSO | Identity & SSO |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Language | Java | JavaScript |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, kubernetes, bare-metal | source, docker |
| GitHub stars | ★ 11,376 | ★ 3,816 |
| First released | 2004 | 2016 |
| Replaces | Okta, Ping Identity | Auth0, Okta |
What are Apereo CAS and node-oidc-provider?
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
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
Apereo CAS vs node-oidc-provider: key differences
Apereo CAS is written in Java, while node-oidc-provider is built with JavaScript. Licensing differs — Apache-2.0 for Apereo CAS versus MIT for node-oidc-provider. Node-oidc-provider is the lighter option, starting around 256 MB of RAM against 1,024 MB for Apereo CAS. Apereo CAS is the more established project (first released 2004), while node-oidc-provider arrived in 2016. Apereo CAS has the considerably larger community, at 11,376 GitHub stars versus 3,816.
Why pick each one
Choose Apereo CAS if…
- Mature SSO with broad protocol support
- Widely adopted in academia
Watch out for
- Configuration is involved
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 Apereo CAS or node-oidc-provider 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 node-oidc-provider free and open-source?
Yes. Apereo CAS is licensed under Apache-2.0 and node-oidc-provider under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Apereo CAS and node-oidc-provider with Docker?
Apereo CAS: yes. node-oidc-provider: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Apereo CAS or node-oidc-provider?
node-oidc-provider has the smaller minimum footprint at 256 MB of RAM, compared to about 1,024 MB for Apereo CAS. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.