GLAuth vs Open Policy Agent
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?
GLAuth
Lightweight LDAP server for developers and small setups
VS
Open Policy Agent
General-purpose policy engine for cloud-native stacks
| Feature | GLAuth | Open Policy Agent |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Identity & SSO | Identity & SSO |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Go | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary | docker, kubernetes, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 2,834 | ★ 12,086 |
| First released | 2017 | 2016 |
| Replaces | Microsoft Active Directory, OpenLDAP | AWS IAM policies |
Why pick each one
Choose Open Policy Agent if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Kubernetes-ready with Helm charts available
- Mature project with 12.1k GitHub stars
Frequently asked questions
Is GLAuth or Open Policy Agent better?
Neither is universally better. Open Policy Agent has the larger community, while GLAuth is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are GLAuth and Open Policy Agent free and open-source?
Yes. GLAuth is licensed under MIT and Open Policy Agent under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run GLAuth and Open Policy Agent with Docker?
GLAuth: yes. Open Policy Agent: yes.