Casbin 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?
Casbin
Authorization library supporting many access control models
VS
Pocket ID
Simple OIDC provider that uses only passkeys
| Feature | Casbin | Pocket ID |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Identity & SSO | Identity & SSO |
| License | Apache-2.0 | BSD-2-Clause |
| Language | Go | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | source | docker |
| GitHub stars | ★ 20,311 | ★ 8,737 |
| First released | 2017 | 2024 |
| Replaces | Auth0 RBAC | Auth0, Authelia |
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
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 Casbin or Pocket ID better?
Neither is universally better. Casbin 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 Casbin and Pocket ID free and open-source?
Yes. Casbin 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 Casbin and Pocket ID with Docker?
Casbin: check the project docs for container support. Pocket ID: yes.