Keycloak 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.
Not the right match-up?
Keycloak
Open-source identity and access management for modern apps
VS
node-oidc-provider
Certified OpenID Connect and OAuth 2.0 provider for Node.js
| Feature | Keycloak | node-oidc-provider |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Identity & SSO | Identity & SSO |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Language | Java | JavaScript |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, kubernetes, bare-metal | source, docker |
| GitHub stars | ★ 36,058 | ★ 3,788 |
| First released | 2014 | 2016 |
| Replaces | Okta, Auth0, Microsoft Entra ID | Auth0, Okta |
Why pick each one
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
Frequently asked questions
Is Keycloak or node-oidc-provider better?
Neither is universally better. Keycloak has the larger community; both share a hard setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Keycloak and node-oidc-provider free and open-source?
Yes. Keycloak is licensed under Apache-2.0 and node-oidc-provider under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Keycloak and node-oidc-provider with Docker?
Keycloak: yes. node-oidc-provider: yes.