SHSelfHostIndex

Dex vs SAML Jackson

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?
DE Dex OpenID Connect identity provider with pluggable connectors VS SA SAML Jackson SAML and OIDC SSO service bridging enterprise providers
FeatureDexSAML Jackson
CategoryIdentity & SSOIdentity & SSO
LicenseApache-2.0Apache-2.0
LanguageGoTypeScript
Setup difficultyMediumMedium
Min. RAM128 MB512 MB
Deploymentdocker, kubernetes, binarydocker
GitHub stars★ 11,019★ 2,257
First released20162022
ReplacesOkta, Auth0Auth0, WorkOS

Why pick each one

Choose Dex if…

  • Great Kubernetes integration
  • Simple and reliable
Dex details

Choose SAML Jackson if…

  • Released under the Apache-2.0 license
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • Active community (2.3k GitHub stars)
  • Written in TypeScript
SAML Jackson details

Frequently asked questions

Is Dex or SAML Jackson better?

Neither is universally better. Dex has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.

Are Dex and SAML Jackson free and open-source?

Yes. Dex is licensed under Apache-2.0 and SAML Jackson under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Dex and SAML Jackson with Docker?

Dex: yes. SAML Jackson: yes.

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