FusionAuth vs Hello Identity Coop
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
VS
Hello Identity Coop
Open-source authentication broker for passwordless login
| Feature | FusionAuth | Hello Identity Coop |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 70 · Good | 69 · Good |
| Category | Identity & SSO | Identity & SSO |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Language | Dockerfile | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, kubernetes, bare-metal | docker, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 241 | ★ 7 |
| First released | 2018 | 2022 |
| Replaces | Auth0, Okta | Auth0, Firebase Auth |
What are FusionAuth and Hello Identity Coop?
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
Hello Identity Coop
Hello is an open-source identity and login service that lets users authenticate with email, phone or social providers without passwords. The wallet and broker components can be self-hosted.
- Passwordless login flows
- Email, phone and social providers
- Standard OpenID Connect
- Developer SDKs and integrations
FusionAuth vs Hello Identity Coop: key differences
FusionAuth is written in Dockerfile, while Hello Identity Coop is built with TypeScript. Licensing differs — Apache-2.0 for FusionAuth versus MIT for Hello Identity Coop. Hello Identity Coop 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 Hello Identity Coop arrived in 2022. FusionAuth has the considerably larger community, at 241 GitHub stars versus 7.
Why pick each one
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
Choose Hello Identity Coop if…
- Simple passwordless onboarding
- Open standards
Watch out for
- Younger project
Frequently asked questions
Is FusionAuth or Hello Identity Coop better?
Neither is universally better. FusionAuth has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are FusionAuth and Hello Identity Coop free and open-source?
Yes. FusionAuth is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Hello Identity Coop under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run FusionAuth and Hello Identity Coop with Docker?
FusionAuth: yes. Hello Identity Coop: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, FusionAuth or Hello Identity Coop?
Hello Identity Coop 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.