Casdoor vs Hanko
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted identity & sso options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Hanko
Passkey-first authentication for modern applications
| Feature | Casdoor | Hanko |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 94 · Excellent | 92 · Excellent |
| Category | Identity & SSO | Identity & SSO |
| License | Apache-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | Go | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker, kubernetes, binary | docker, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 14,465 | ★ 9,036 |
| First released | 2021 | 2022 |
| Replaces | Auth0, Okta | Auth0, Clerk |
What are Casdoor and Hanko?
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
Hanko
Hanko is an open-source authentication solution built around passkeys and passwordless login. It can be self-hosted to provide modern, phishing-resistant authentication to web and mobile applications.
- Passkey-first login
- Passwordless flows
- Embeddable web component
- Self-hosted API
Casdoor vs Hanko: key differences
Both projects are written in Go. Licensing differs — Apache-2.0 for Casdoor versus AGPL-3.0 for Hanko. Casdoor is the lighter option, starting around 256 MB of RAM against 512 MB for Hanko.
Why pick each one
Choose Casdoor if…
- Polished out-of-the-box UI
- Broad protocol support
Watch out for
- Documentation can be uneven
Choose Hanko if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 9k GitHub stars
- Written in Go
Frequently asked questions
Is Casdoor or Hanko 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 Hanko free and open-source?
Yes. Casdoor is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Hanko under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Casdoor and Hanko with Docker?
Casdoor: yes. Hanko: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Casdoor or Hanko?
Casdoor has the smaller minimum footprint at 256 MB of RAM, compared to about 512 MB for Hanko. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.