SHSelfHostIndex

LemonLDAP::NG vs Ory Kratos

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?
LE LemonLDAP::NG Web single sign-on and access management system VS OR Ory Kratos Headless identity and user management API server
FeatureLemonLDAP::NGOry Kratos
CategoryIdentity & SSOIdentity & SSO
LicenseGPL-2.0Apache-2.0
LanguagePerlGo
Setup difficultyHardHard
Min. RAM1,024 MB256 MB
Deploymentdocker, bare-metaldocker, kubernetes, binary
GitHub stars★ 84★ 13,815
First released20052020
ReplacesOkta, PingFederateAuth0, Firebase Auth

Why pick each one

Choose LemonLDAP::NG if…

  • Mature and full-featured
  • Many protocol options
LemonLDAP::NG details

Choose Ory Kratos if…

  • Extremely flexible architecture
  • Excellent for custom frontends
Ory Kratos details

Frequently asked questions

Is LemonLDAP::NG or Ory Kratos better?

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

Are LemonLDAP::NG and Ory Kratos free and open-source?

Yes. LemonLDAP::NG is licensed under GPL-2.0 and Ory Kratos under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run LemonLDAP::NG and Ory Kratos with Docker?

LemonLDAP::NG: yes. Ory Kratos: yes.

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