Keycloak vs Shibboleth Identity Provider
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted identity & sso options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Keycloak
Open-source identity and access management for modern apps
VS
Shibboleth Identity Provider
Standards-based SAML identity provider for federations
| Feature | Keycloak | Shibboleth Identity Provider |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Category | Identity & SSO | Identity & SSO |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Java | Java |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 1,024 MB |
| Deployment | docker, kubernetes, bare-metal | bare-metal, docker, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 36,967 | ★ 200 |
| First released | 2014 | 2003 |
| Replaces | Okta, Auth0, Microsoft Entra ID | Okta, Ping Identity |
What are Keycloak and Shibboleth Identity Provider?
Keycloak
Keycloak is an enterprise-grade identity and access management solution backed by Red Hat. It provides single sign-on, identity brokering, social login and fine-grained authorization for applications and services.
- SSO with OpenID Connect and SAML 2.0
- Identity brokering and social login
- User federation with LDAP and Active Directory
- Fine-grained authorization services
Shibboleth Identity Provider
The Shibboleth Identity Provider is an open-source SAML identity provider widely used in research and education federations. It enables secure single sign-on and attribute release across organizations.
- SAML 2.0 identity provider
- Attribute resolution and release policies
- Federation metadata support
- Used by academic federations worldwide
Keycloak vs Shibboleth Identity Provider: key differences
Both projects are written in Java. Shibboleth Identity Provider is the more established project (first released 2003), while Keycloak arrived in 2014. Keycloak has the considerably larger community, at 36,967 GitHub stars versus 200.
Why pick each one
Choose Keycloak if…
- Mature and battle-tested
- Strong enterprise feature set
Watch out for
- Steep learning curve
- Resource intensive
Choose Shibboleth Identity Provider if…
- Gold standard for SAML federations
- Highly configurable
Watch out for
- Complex setup
- SAML-centric
Frequently asked questions
Is Keycloak or Shibboleth Identity 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 Shibboleth Identity Provider free and open-source?
Yes. Keycloak is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Shibboleth Identity Provider under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Keycloak and Shibboleth Identity Provider with Docker?
Keycloak: yes. Shibboleth Identity Provider: yes.