this post was submitted on 18 Mar 2025
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What are you folks using for self-hosted single sign-on?

I have my little LDAP server (lldap is fan-fucking-tastic -- far easier to work with than OpenLDAP, which gave me nothing but heartburn). Some applications can be configured to work with it directly; several don't have LDAP account support. And, ultimately, it'd be nice to have SSO - having the same password everywhere if great, but having to sign in only once (per day or week, or whatever) would be even nicer.

There are several self-hosted Auth* projects; which is the simplest and easiest? I'd really just like a basic start-it-up, point it at my LDAP server, and go. Fine grained ACLs and RBAC support is nice and all, but simplicity is trump in my case. Configuring these systems is, IME, a complex process, with no small numbers of dials to turn.

A half dozen users, and probably only two groups: admin, and everyone else. I don't need fancy. OSS, of course. Is there any of these projects that fit that bill? It would seem to be a common use case for self-hosters, who don't need all the bells and whistles of enterprise-grade solutions.

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[–] Nibodhika@lemmy.world 2 points 3 hours ago

I tried Authelia but couldn't set it up, so I've been using Authentik and have been quite happy. The only downside is that I had to configure it using the GUI instead of with config files, which I think would have been a point for Authelia, but couldn't get it to work properly.

[–] qaz@lemmy.world 1 points 3 hours ago

I use Keycloak

[–] node815@lemmy.world 5 points 7 hours ago

Pocket id is my go to. I used to use Authentik, but it was overkill for us. Pocket ID is pretty simple to use and has a very nice interface to add your users and clients. Uncluttered and straight and to the point. Pocket ID doesn't use UN/PW Combos. Instead, you use Passkeys as in webAuthn devices to log in, which IMHO is one of the better security paths.

https://github.com/pocket-id/pocket-id

[–] parrhesia@sh.itjust.works 1 points 5 hours ago

I use authentik

[–] keyez@lemmy.world 8 points 12 hours ago (2 children)

I used to run key cloak backed by LDAP. Few months ago moved to Authelia and after many hours of tinkering and setting up sites I haven't had to touch it except to add a new URL or user.

I slightly disagree with the other commenter I didn't find it easy or straightforward but once I finally found what worked for my setup its been great.

Imagine Authelia is the caddy of SSO. Powerful, intimidating but very efficient. Also all configs are in like 3 files and things aren't going to change without FS access which only I the admin have.

[–] sxan@midwest.social 1 points 9 hours ago

Caddy is anything but intimidating! If Authelia is anything like Caddy in ease of use, sign me up!

[–] scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.tech 1 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

I've tried and failed a couple of times, would you mind sharing (or dming) your example config? Maybe I'm just a been with sso and can't figure it out

[–] keyez@lemmy.world 2 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

Certainly, I'll post it tomorrow

[–] sk@hub.utsukta.org 22 points 15 hours ago (2 children)

Authentik! i've been using it since over a year and its been a wonderful experience. supports many protocols and is updated regularly, as a beginner i didnt have difficulty setting it up, has decent documentation for integrations.

[–] sxan@midwest.social 3 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

That's the one I keep seeing and thinking, maybe I should try it. Thanks for the input!

[–] johntash@eviltoast.org 1 points 8 hours ago

I'd also recommend Authentik. It's simpler than something like keycloak imo and works pretty well. They also have guides for quite a few self hosted services.

I did have issues with it being slow at some point, but an update fixed it iirc.

[–] Flipper@feddit.org 1 points 13 hours ago

I don't like the interface for setting up flows. Feels needlessly complicated.

[–] roofuskit@lemmy.world 20 points 15 hours ago (3 children)

Just copied and pasted my comment from another recent post about Authelia.

After recently trying Authelia I gave up and moved to Authentik. Very much appreciate the all in one functionality of it. The company even paid a YouTuber to make a bunch of useful step by step tutorials and they have been invaluable. They also have a number of SSO integration instructions for various software. I highly recommend giving it a try if you're in the market for an easy enough self hosted SSO and proxy password system.

[–] slazer2au@lemmy.world 1 points 1 hour ago

Are you taking about Jim's Garage?

[–] clmbmb@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 4 hours ago

paid a YouTuber

a link to his/her channel would be great.

[–] sxan@midwest.social 7 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

Thanks! Two for Authentik.

[–] roofuskit@lemmy.world 6 points 14 hours ago

I think it really shines because it supports everything. LDAP, SAML, OAUTH2, OpenID, everything. There are options for TOTP, Duo, Webauth, etc... and you can enforce MFA if you like. The only apps I have been unable to integrate are ones that offer no SSO integration at all.

[–] Shimitar@downonthestreet.eu 9 points 14 hours ago

Authelia.

Learn it, its worth while.

Nice and easy. I set it up on the server itself, no container.

See https://wiki.gardiol.org/doku.php?id=selfhost%3Asso and https://wiki.gardiol.org/doku.php?id=services%3Aauthelia

[–] irotsoma@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

Keycloak. Took me a bit to learn the basics, but it has been way easier to troubleshoot than Authentik and has more features. If you need something that mimics LDAP rather than syncing with an existing LDAP, then Authentik is pretty good. I don't use LDAP, though.

[–] sxan@midwest.social 1 points 9 hours ago

Yeah, I want to keep my LDAP. Whatever sits on top has to use it as a backend.

[–] steventhedev@lemmy.world 7 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 15 hours ago) (5 children)

Keycloak might seem a little daunting to start with, but is basically glue between your idp (ldap) and whatever apps need to authenticate.

[–] Grunt4019@lemm.ee 4 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

My issue with keycloak is that the documentation is very poor as a beginner. It and almost any other guides online assume you already know things that you may not so I wasn’t able to get past that hurdle.

[–] steventhedev@lemmy.world 1 points 5 hours ago

Strongly agree. A guide for dead simple setups would be incredibly useful (e.g. gsuite as idp, oauth for a single app).

It took me a few days to get that basic setup working, and a few days more to improve it. But once it was up, it was rock solid.

[–] jaark@infosec.pub 4 points 14 hours ago

Another for Keycloak. Though it is probably overkill for many people's needs in here - it certainly is for mine! But it is what I have up and running and see no need to change to a simpler option.

[–] mhzawadi@lemmy.horwood.cloud 1 points 13 hours ago

Keycloak here, I plugged my keycloak into my Google workspace. Yes I know Google!!

But the login flow is amazing and I get all the MFA without the faff

[–] towerful@programming.dev 1 points 14 hours ago

And keycloak has a decent k8s operator, making deployment on a k8s cluster a breeze

[–] AddiXz@feddit.nl 1 points 14 hours ago

Plus one for Keycloak here. Initially it may be a bit daunting but once it's set it's a rock and works flawlessly!

[–] hendrik@palaver.p3x.de 4 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 15 hours ago) (1 children)

I use KaniDM and configured everything with OAuth2. That was the easiest and most straightforward I could find. But I don't think they bothered implementing LDAP. Other platforms I tried are Authentik, Authelia, Keycloak, Zitadel... They're all a bit heavier and have other/more features, but there wasn't one I really fell in love with.

[–] 2xsaiko@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 15 hours ago)

Kanidm has LDAP support but it’s read-only. You should prefer OAuth though since LDAP is locked to password login.

[–] Xanza@lemm.ee 1 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 15 hours ago) (1 children)
[–] sxan@midwest.social 3 points 15 hours ago

Yes! I've used that page extensively. It doesn't, however, address SSO.