SHSelfHostIndex

SuperTokens 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?
SU SuperTokens Open-source user authentication you can self-host VS ZITADEL Cloud-native identity infrastructure with multi-tenancy built
FeatureSuperTokensZITADEL
Deploy effortUnder-an-hour setupUnder-an-hour setup
Health score95 · Excellent95 · Excellent
CategoryIdentity & SSOIdentity & SSO
LicenseApache-2.0Apache-2.0
LanguageJavaGo
Setup difficultyMediumMedium
Min. RAM512 MB512 MB
Deploymentdocker, binarydocker, kubernetes, binary
GitHub stars★ 15,320★ 15,083
First released20202020
ReplacesAuth0, Firebase AuthAuth0, Okta, Firebase Auth

What are SuperTokens and ZITADEL?

SuperTokens

SuperTokens is an open-source authentication solution that handles login, sessions, social login and more. It can be self-hosted and offers SDKs and prebuilt UI components for rapid integration.

  • Email/password and passwordless login
  • Social and enterprise SSO
  • Secure session management
  • Prebuilt frontend components

Read the full SuperTokens guide →

ZITADEL

ZITADEL is an open-source identity and access management platform built for multi-tenant applications. It offers OpenID Connect, OAuth2, SAML, passwordless login and a powerful management API.

  • Multi-tenancy as a first-class concept
  • Passwordless and FIDO2 authentication
  • Event-sourced audit trail
  • Comprehensive gRPC and REST APIs

Read the full ZITADEL guide →

SuperTokens vs ZITADEL: key differences

SuperTokens is written in Java, while ZITADEL is built with Go.

Why pick each one

Choose SuperTokens if…

  • Easy framework integration
  • Good free self-hosted tier

Watch out for

  • Some advanced features are paid
SuperTokens details

Choose ZITADEL if…

  • Strong multi-tenant model
  • Modern Go codebase

Watch out for

  • Smaller community than Keycloak
ZITADEL details

Frequently asked questions

Is SuperTokens or ZITADEL 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 SuperTokens and ZITADEL free and open-source?

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

Can I run SuperTokens and ZITADEL with Docker?

SuperTokens: yes. ZITADEL: yes.

Related comparisons