Casbin vs GLAuth
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?
Casbin
Authorization library supporting many access control models
VS
GLAuth
Lightweight LDAP server for developers and small setups
| Feature | Casbin | GLAuth |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Identity & SSO | Identity & SSO |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Language | Go | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | source | docker, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 20,311 | ★ 2,834 |
| First released | 2017 | 2017 |
| Replaces | Auth0 RBAC | Microsoft Active Directory, OpenLDAP |
Why pick each one
Choose Casbin if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- Mature project with 20.3k GitHub stars
- Written in Go
- Tiny footprint — runs in 128 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Casbin or GLAuth better?
Neither is universally better. Casbin has the larger community, while GLAuth is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Casbin and GLAuth free and open-source?
Yes. Casbin is licensed under Apache-2.0 and GLAuth under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Casbin and GLAuth with Docker?
Casbin: check the project docs for container support. GLAuth: yes.