Janssen Project vs node-oidc-provider

A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted identity & sso options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.

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FeatureJanssen Projectnode-oidc-provider
Deploy effortRead-the-docs projectUnder-an-hour setup
Health score80 · Excellent88 · Excellent
CategoryIdentity & SSOIdentity & SSO
LicenseApache-2.0MIT
LanguageJavaJavaScript
Setup difficultyHardHard
Min. RAM4,096 MB256 MB
Deploymentkubernetes, helmsource, docker
GitHub stars★ 649★ 3,816
First released20202016
ReplacesOkta, Auth0Auth0, Okta

What are Janssen Project and node-oidc-provider?

Janssen Project

The Janssen Project is a Linux Foundation effort delivering a scalable, cloud-native identity and access management platform. It implements OpenID Connect, OAuth 2.0, and FIDO standards for authentication and authorization.

  • OpenID Connect provider
  • OAuth 2.0 server
  • FIDO2 and passkeys
  • Cloud-native deployment

node-oidc-provider

node-oidc-provider is an open-source, certified OpenID Connect and OAuth 2.0 provider implementation for Node.js. It can be self-hosted to issue tokens and act as an identity provider for applications.

  • Certified OIDC provider
  • OAuth 2.0 support
  • Embeddable in Node apps
  • Standards compliant

Janssen Project vs node-oidc-provider: key differences

Janssen Project is written in Java, while node-oidc-provider is built with JavaScript. Licensing differs — Apache-2.0 for Janssen Project versus MIT for node-oidc-provider. Node-oidc-provider is the lighter option, starting around 256 MB of RAM against 4,096 MB for Janssen Project. Node-oidc-provider is the more established project (first released 2016), while Janssen Project arrived in 2020. Node-oidc-provider has the considerably larger community, at 3,816 GitHub stars versus 649. Node-oidc-provider lists first-class Docker deployment; Janssen Project does not.

Why pick each one

Choose Janssen Project if…

  • Standards complete
  • Built for scale

Watch out for

  • Complex to operate
  • Heavy resource needs
Janssen Project details

Choose node-oidc-provider if…

  • Released under the MIT license
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • Active community (3.8k GitHub stars)
  • Written in JavaScript
node-oidc-provider details

Frequently asked questions

Is Janssen Project or node-oidc-provider better?

Neither is universally better. node-oidc-provider has the larger community; both share a hard setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.

Are Janssen Project and node-oidc-provider free and open-source?

Yes. Janssen Project is licensed under Apache-2.0 and node-oidc-provider under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Janssen Project and node-oidc-provider with Docker?

Janssen Project: check the project docs for container support. node-oidc-provider: yes.

Which is lighter on resources, Janssen Project or node-oidc-provider?

node-oidc-provider has the smaller minimum footprint at 256 MB of RAM, compared to about 4,096 MB for Janssen Project. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.

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