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 ZI ZITADEL Cloud-native identity infrastructure with multi-tenancy built in
FeatureSuperTokensZITADEL
CategoryIdentity & SSOIdentity & SSO
LicenseApache-2.0Apache-2.0
LanguageJavaGo
Setup difficultyMediumMedium
Min. RAM512 MB512 MB
Deploymentdocker, binarydocker, kubernetes, binary
GitHub stars★ 15,250★ 14,671
First released20202020
ReplacesAuth0, Firebase AuthAuth0, Okta, Firebase Auth

Why pick each one

Choose SuperTokens if…

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

Choose ZITADEL if…

  • Strong multi-tenant model
  • Modern Go codebase
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.

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