SHSelfHostIndex

OpenUnison 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.

Not the right match-up?
OP OpenUnison Identity management and SSO portal for Kubernetes VS SH Shibboleth Identity Provider Standards-based SAML identity provider for federations
FeatureOpenUnisonShibboleth Identity Provider
CategoryIdentity & SSOIdentity & SSO
LicenseApache-2.0Apache-2.0
LanguageLessJava
Setup difficultyHardHard
Min. RAM1,024 MB1,024 MB
Deploymentkubernetes, helmbare-metal, docker, source
GitHub stars★ 136★ 200
First released20182003
ReplacesOktaOkta, Ping Identity

Why pick each one

Choose OpenUnison if…

  • Released under the Apache-2.0 license
  • Kubernetes-ready with Helm charts available
  • Written in Less
OpenUnison details

Choose Shibboleth Identity Provider if…

  • Gold standard for SAML federations
  • Highly configurable
Shibboleth Identity Provider details

Frequently asked questions

Is OpenUnison or Shibboleth Identity Provider better?

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

Are OpenUnison and Shibboleth Identity Provider free and open-source?

Yes. OpenUnison 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 OpenUnison and Shibboleth Identity Provider with Docker?

OpenUnison: check the project docs for container support. Shibboleth Identity Provider: yes.

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