SHSelfHostIndex

Hanko 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?
Hanko Passkey-first authentication for modern applications VS SA SAML Jackson SAML and OIDC SSO service bridging enterprise providers
FeatureHankoSAML Jackson
Deploy effortUnder-an-hour setupUnder-an-hour setup
Health score92 · Excellent80 · Excellent
CategoryIdentity & SSOIdentity & SSO
LicenseAGPL-3.0Apache-2.0
LanguageGoTypeScript
Setup difficultyMediumMedium
Min. RAM512 MB512 MB
Deploymentdocker, binarydocker
GitHub stars★ 9,036★ 2,266
First released20222022
ReplacesAuth0, ClerkAuth0, WorkOS

What are Hanko and SAML Jackson?

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

SAML Jackson

BoxyHQ Jackson (SAML Jackson) is a self-hosted service that abstracts SAML and OIDC enterprise single sign-on behind a simple OAuth 2.0 API. It lets apps add enterprise SSO without per-provider code.

  • SAML and OIDC abstraction
  • OAuth 2.0 API
  • Directory sync (SCIM)
  • Self-hostable

Hanko vs SAML Jackson: key differences

Hanko is written in Go, while SAML Jackson is built with TypeScript. Licensing differs — AGPL-3.0 for Hanko versus Apache-2.0 for SAML Jackson. Hanko has the considerably larger community, at 9,036 GitHub stars versus 2,266.

Why pick each one

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
Hanko 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 Hanko or SAML Jackson better?

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

Are Hanko and SAML Jackson free and open-source?

Yes. Hanko is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and SAML Jackson under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Hanko and SAML Jackson with Docker?

Hanko: yes. SAML Jackson: yes.

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