Apereo CAS vs Ory Oathkeeper
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?
Apereo CAS
Enterprise single sign-on server for web applications
VS
Ory Oathkeeper
Identity and access proxy for zero-trust networks
| Feature | Apereo CAS | Ory Oathkeeper |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Identity & SSO | Identity & SSO |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Java | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, kubernetes, bare-metal | docker, kubernetes, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 11,354 | ★ 3,590 |
| First released | 2004 | 2017 |
| Replaces | Okta, Ping Identity | Cloudflare Access |
Why pick each one
Choose Apereo CAS if…
- Mature SSO with broad protocol support
- Widely adopted in academia
Choose Ory Oathkeeper if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Kubernetes-ready with Helm charts available
- Active community (3.6k GitHub stars)
Frequently asked questions
Is Apereo CAS or Ory Oathkeeper better?
Neither is universally better. Apereo CAS has the larger community, while Ory Oathkeeper is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Apereo CAS and Ory Oathkeeper free and open-source?
Yes. Apereo CAS is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Ory Oathkeeper under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Apereo CAS and Ory Oathkeeper with Docker?
Apereo CAS: yes. Ory Oathkeeper: yes.