head to head · open source
pocket-id vs webauthn4j
pocket-id has 10,187 GitHub stars, 355 forks, 98 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. webauthn4j has 599 stars, 101 forks, 16 open issues and last shipped 7 days ago. pocket-id leads on adoption by 1,601% (10,187 vs 599 stars). pocket-id is written in Go under BSD-2-Clause; webauthn4j is written in Java under Apache-2.0. pocket-id has attracted 3% as many forks as stars, webauthn4j 17%. 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.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| pocket-id | webauthn4j | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 10K | ★ 599 |
| License | BSD-2-Clause | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Java |
| Last push | 2026-11-07 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 355 | ⑂ 101 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick pocket-id if
- You weight community size — 10K 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 webauthn4j if
- You want the webauthn4j 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 webauthn4j fits your workflow better
About pocket-id
Pocket ID Pocket ID is an easy to use OpenID Connect Certified™ and OAuth 2.0 provider that lets users sign in to your applications with passkeys. → Try out the Demo The goal of Pocket ID is to be a simple and easy to use. There are other self hosted OIDC and OAuth 2.0 providers like Keycloak or ORY Hydra but they are often too complex for simple use cases. Additionally, what makes Pocket ID special is that it only supports passkey authentication, which means you don’t need a password. Some people might not like this idea at first, but I believe passkeys are the future, and once you try them, you’ll love them…
read the full pocket-id overview →
About webauthn4j
WebAuthn4J A portable Java library for WebAuthn(Passkeys) server side verification Conformance All mandatory test cases and optional Android Key attestation test cases of FIDO2 Test Tools provided by FIDO Alliance are passed. Supported Attestation statement format All attestation statement formats are supported. Packed attestation FIDO U2F attestation Android Key attestation Android SafetyNet attestation TPM attestation Apple Anonymous attestation None attestation Apple App Attest attestation Kotlin friendly Although WebAuthn4J is written in Java, public members are marked by NotNull or Nullable annotation to…
read the full webauthn4j overview →
More in Security & Privacy
Related comparisons
More Identity & Access Management (IAM) projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Identity & Access Management (IAM) field.
Frequently asked questions
Is pocket-id or webauthn4j more popular?
pocket-id has 10,187 GitHub stars and webauthn4j has 599. pocket-id has the larger community by that measure.
Are pocket-id and webauthn4j free?
Both are open source. pocket-id is licensed under BSD-2-Clause and webauthn4j under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between pocket-id and webauthn4j?
pocket-id is written in Go and webauthn4j 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, pocket-id or webauthn4j?
Choose pocket-id if you want the larger community (10,187 stars) or its BSD-2-Clause licence terms. Choose webauthn4j if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.