SHSelfHostIndex

LLDAP 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?
LL LLDAP Lightweight LDAP server with a simple web interface VS OR Ory Kratos Headless identity and user management API server
FeatureLLDAPOry Kratos
CategoryIdentity & SSOIdentity & SSO
LicenseGPL-3.0Apache-2.0
LanguageRustGo
Setup difficultyEasyHard
Min. RAM64 MB256 MB
Deploymentdocker, binarydocker, kubernetes, binary
GitHub stars★ 6,421★ 13,815
First released20212020
ReplacesActive Directory, OpenLDAPAuth0, Firebase Auth

Why pick each one

Choose LLDAP if…

  • Very easy to deploy
  • Lightweight Rust binary
LLDAP details

Choose Ory Kratos if…

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

Frequently asked questions

Is LLDAP or Ory Kratos better?

Neither is universally better. Ory Kratos has the larger community, while LLDAP is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.

Are LLDAP and Ory Kratos free and open-source?

Yes. LLDAP is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Ory Kratos under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run LLDAP and Ory Kratos with Docker?

LLDAP: yes. Ory Kratos: yes.

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