Casdoor vs FusionAuth
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted identity & sso options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
FusionAuth
Complete authentication and authorization platform
| Feature | Casdoor | FusionAuth |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 94 · Excellent | 70 · Good |
| Category | Identity & SSO | Identity & SSO |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Go | Dockerfile |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 1,024 MB |
| Deployment | docker, kubernetes, binary | docker, kubernetes, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 14,465 | ★ 241 |
| First released | 2021 | 2018 |
| Replaces | Auth0, Okta | Auth0, Okta |
What are Casdoor and FusionAuth?
Casdoor
Casdoor is an open-source identity and access management platform with a strong focus on a friendly user interface. It supports OAuth2, OIDC, SAML, CAS, LDAP and many social login providers.
- Supports OAuth, SAML, CAS and LDAP
- Dozens of built-in social login providers
- Multi-tenant organization support
- Web-based admin and login UI
FusionAuth
FusionAuth is a self-hostable customer identity and access management platform supporting OAuth, OIDC, SAML, MFA, and user management. The community edition runs free on your own infrastructure.
- OAuth, OIDC and SAML support
- Multi-factor authentication
- User and tenant management
- Themable login pages
Casdoor vs FusionAuth: key differences
Casdoor is written in Go, while FusionAuth is built with Dockerfile. Casdoor is the lighter option, starting around 256 MB of RAM against 1,024 MB for FusionAuth. FusionAuth is the more established project (first released 2018), while Casdoor arrived in 2021. Casdoor has the considerably larger community, at 14,465 GitHub stars versus 241.
Why pick each one
Choose Casdoor if…
- Polished out-of-the-box UI
- Broad protocol support
Watch out for
- Documentation can be uneven
Choose FusionAuth if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Kubernetes-ready with Helm charts available
- Written in Dockerfile
Frequently asked questions
Is Casdoor or FusionAuth better?
Neither is universally better. Casdoor has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Casdoor and FusionAuth free and open-source?
Yes. Casdoor is licensed under Apache-2.0 and FusionAuth under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Casdoor and FusionAuth with Docker?
Casdoor: yes. FusionAuth: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Casdoor or FusionAuth?
Casdoor has the smaller minimum footprint at 256 MB of RAM, compared to about 1,024 MB for FusionAuth. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.