head to head · open source
Logto vs pac4j
Logto has 14,936 GitHub stars, 1,226 forks, 183 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. pac4j has 2,539 stars, 710 forks, 5 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Logto leads on adoption by 488% (14,936 vs 2,539 stars). Logto is written in TypeScript under MPL-2.0; pac4j is written in Java under Apache-2.0. Logto has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, pac4j 28%. pac4j was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 6 topic tags (authentication, authorization, identity, jwt), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| Logto | pac4j | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 15K | ★ 2.5K |
| License | MPL-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Java |
| Last push | 2026-11-13 | 2026-11-14 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.2K | ⑂ 710 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Logto if
- You weight community size — 15K stars and counting
- You want the MPL-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick pac4j if
- You want the pac4j feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You evaluated both and pac4j fits your workflow better
About Logto
Logto Logto is the modern, open source auth infrastructure for SaaS and AI apps. It takes the pain out of OIDC and OAuth 2.1 and makes it easy to build secure, production ready auth with multi tenancy, enterprise SSO, and RBAC. website • cloud • docs • api • blog • auth wiki • newsletter Why Logto? Built for teams scaling SaaS, AI, and agent based platforms without the usual auth headaches. With Logto, you get: Multi tenancy, enterprise SSO, and RBAC : ready to use, no workarounds. Pre built sign in flows , customizable UIs, and SDKs for 30+ frameworks. Full support for OIDC, OAuth 2.1, and SAML without the…
read the full Logto overview →
About pac4j
The security engine for Java: one API to add OpenID Connect, SAML, CAS, OAuth, JWT, LDAP... authentication and authorization to any Java framework. Documentation • Quick start • Frameworks • Concepts • Help ✨ Why pac4j? 🧩 One security engine, every framework : the same concepts and the same configuration for Spring Boot, Jakarta EE, Play, Vert.x, Javalin, JAX RS and many more. 🔐 All the major protocols : OpenID Connect, SAML 2, CAS, OAuth 1.0 & 2.0, JWT, LDAP, Kerberos, HTTP... Log in with Keycloak, Microsoft Entra ID, Google, GitHub, Okta, Auth0, any SAML IdP or CAS server. 🛡️…
read the full pac4j overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Logto or pac4j more popular?
Logto has 14,936 GitHub stars and pac4j has 2,539. Logto has the larger community by that measure.
Are Logto and pac4j free?
Both are open source. Logto is licensed under MPL-2.0 and pac4j under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Logto and pac4j?
Logto is written in TypeScript and pac4j in Java. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Logto or pac4j?
Choose Logto if you want the larger community (14,936 stars) or its MPL-2.0 licence terms. Choose pac4j if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.