node-oidc-provider vs SimpleSAMLphp
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted identity & sso options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | node-oidc-provider | SimpleSAMLphp |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 88 · Excellent | 83 · Excellent |
| Category | Identity & SSO | Identity & SSO |
| License | MIT | LGPL-2.1 |
| Language | JavaScript | PHP |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | source, docker | bare-metal, source, docker |
| GitHub stars | ★ 3,816 | ★ 1,142 |
| First released | 2016 | 2007 |
| Replaces | Auth0, Okta | Okta, PingFederate |
What are node-oidc-provider and SimpleSAMLphp?
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
SimpleSAMLphp
SimpleSAMLphp is a widely used PHP application for implementing SAML 2.0 identity and service providers. It enables web single sign-on and federation for PHP environments and beyond.
- SAML 2.0 IdP and SP
- Identity federation
- Many auth backends
- Module ecosystem
node-oidc-provider vs SimpleSAMLphp: key differences
Node-oidc-provider is written in JavaScript, while SimpleSAMLphp is built with PHP. Licensing differs — MIT for node-oidc-provider versus LGPL-2.1 for SimpleSAMLphp. SimpleSAMLphp is the more established project (first released 2007), while node-oidc-provider arrived in 2016. Node-oidc-provider has the considerably larger community, at 3,816 GitHub stars versus 1,142.
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
Choose SimpleSAMLphp if…
- Proven and widely deployed
- Flexible modules
Watch out for
- Configuration is intricate
- PHP performance limits
Frequently asked questions
Is node-oidc-provider or SimpleSAMLphp better?
Neither is universally better. node-oidc-provider has the larger community, while SimpleSAMLphp is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are node-oidc-provider and SimpleSAMLphp free and open-source?
Yes. node-oidc-provider is licensed under MIT and SimpleSAMLphp under LGPL-2.1. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run node-oidc-provider and SimpleSAMLphp with Docker?
node-oidc-provider: yes. SimpleSAMLphp: yes.