SHSelfHostIndex

Shibboleth Identity Provider vs ZITADEL

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?
SH Shibboleth Identity Provider Standards-based SAML identity provider for federations VS ZI ZITADEL Cloud-native identity infrastructure with multi-tenancy built in
FeatureShibboleth Identity ProviderZITADEL
CategoryIdentity & SSOIdentity & SSO
LicenseApache-2.0Apache-2.0
LanguageJavaGo
Setup difficultyHardMedium
Min. RAM1,024 MB512 MB
Deploymentbare-metal, docker, sourcedocker, kubernetes, binary
GitHub stars★ 200★ 14,671
First released20032020
ReplacesOkta, Ping IdentityAuth0, Okta, Firebase Auth

Why pick each one

Choose Shibboleth Identity Provider if…

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

Choose ZITADEL if…

  • Strong multi-tenant model
  • Modern Go codebase
ZITADEL details

Frequently asked questions

Is Shibboleth Identity Provider or ZITADEL better?

ZITADEL is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler medium setup. Consider Shibboleth Identity Provider if its specific feature set fits your needs better.

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

Yes. Shibboleth Identity Provider is licensed under Apache-2.0 and ZITADEL under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Shibboleth Identity Provider and ZITADEL with Docker?

Shibboleth Identity Provider: yes. ZITADEL: yes.

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