head to head · open source
pocket-id vs webauthn-ruby
pocket-id has 9,250 GitHub stars, 314 forks, 98 open issues and last shipped yesterday. webauthn-ruby has 774 stars, 70 forks, 12 open issues and last shipped 19 days ago. pocket-id leads on adoption by 1,095% (9,250 vs 774 stars). pocket-id is written in Go under BSD-2-Clause; webauthn-ruby is written in Ruby under MIT. pocket-id has attracted 3% as many forks as stars, webauthn-ruby 9%. pocket-id was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (passkeys), 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
| pocket-id | webauthn-ruby | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 9.3K | ★ 774 |
| License | BSD-2-Clause | MIT |
| Written in | Go | Ruby |
| Last push | 2026-09-21 | 2026-09-03 |
| Forks | ⑂ 314 | ⑂ 70 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick pocket-id if
- You weight community size — 9.3K stars and counting
- You want the BSD-2-Clause license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick webauthn-ruby if
- You want the webauthn-ruby feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Ruby
- You evaluated both and webauthn-ruby fits your workflow better
About pocket-id
Pocket ID is a self hosted, OpenID Connect Certified™ and OAuth 2.0 provider, written in Go, that authenticates users with passkeys and passwords never, aimed at anyone who wants single sign on for their own applications without standing up a heavyweight identity platform.
read the full pocket-id overview →
About webauthn-ruby
webauthn ruby is an MIT licensed Ruby gem that turns a Ruby or Rails web server into a conformant WebAuthn Relying Party, handling the server side registration and authentication of public key credentials — passkeys — for teams that want passwordless or two factor login without implementing the W3C specification themselves.
read the full webauthn-ruby overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is pocket-id or webauthn-ruby more popular?
pocket-id has 9,250 GitHub stars and webauthn-ruby has 774. pocket-id has the larger community by that measure.
Are pocket-id and webauthn-ruby free?
Both are open source. pocket-id is licensed under BSD-2-Clause and webauthn-ruby under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between pocket-id and webauthn-ruby?
pocket-id is written in Go and webauthn-ruby in Ruby. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, pocket-id or webauthn-ruby?
Choose pocket-id if you want the larger community (9,250 stars) or its BSD-2-Clause licence terms. Choose webauthn-ruby if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.