Apereo CAS vs Pocket ID
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
Pocket ID
Simple OIDC provider that uses only passkeys
| Feature | Apereo CAS | Pocket ID |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Identity & SSO | Identity & SSO |
| License | Apache-2.0 | BSD-2-Clause |
| Language | Java | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | docker, kubernetes, bare-metal | docker |
| GitHub stars | ★ 11,354 | ★ 8,737 |
| First released | 2004 | 2024 |
| Replaces | Okta, Ping Identity | Auth0, Authelia |
Why pick each one
Choose Apereo CAS if…
- Mature SSO with broad protocol support
- Widely adopted in academia
Choose Pocket ID if…
- Released under the BSD-2-Clause license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 8.7k GitHub stars
Frequently asked questions
Is Apereo CAS or Pocket ID better?
Neither is universally better. Apereo CAS has the larger community, while Pocket ID is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Apereo CAS and Pocket ID free and open-source?
Yes. Apereo CAS is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Pocket ID under BSD-2-Clause. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Apereo CAS and Pocket ID with Docker?
Apereo CAS: yes. Pocket ID: yes.