SHSelfHostIndex

SimpleSAMLphp vs SuperTokens

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?
SI SimpleSAMLphp PHP implementation of SAML and identity federation VS SU SuperTokens Open-source user authentication you can self-host
FeatureSimpleSAMLphpSuperTokens
CategoryIdentity & SSOIdentity & SSO
LicenseLGPL-2.1Apache-2.0
LanguagePHPJava
Setup difficultyMediumMedium
Min. RAM256 MB512 MB
Deploymentbare-metal, source, dockerdocker, binary
GitHub stars★ 1,139★ 15,250
First released20072020
ReplacesOkta, PingFederateAuth0, Firebase Auth

Why pick each one

Choose SimpleSAMLphp if…

  • Proven and widely deployed
  • Flexible modules
SimpleSAMLphp details

Choose SuperTokens if…

  • Easy framework integration
  • Good free self-hosted tier
SuperTokens details

Frequently asked questions

Is SimpleSAMLphp or SuperTokens better?

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

Are SimpleSAMLphp and SuperTokens free and open-source?

Yes. SimpleSAMLphp is licensed under LGPL-2.1 and SuperTokens under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run SimpleSAMLphp and SuperTokens with Docker?

SimpleSAMLphp: yes. SuperTokens: yes.

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