head to head · open source
tinyauth vs openvpn-auth-oauth2
tinyauth has 8,359 GitHub stars, 281 forks, 41 open issues and last shipped today. openvpn-auth-oauth2 has 516 stars, 64 forks, 1 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. tinyauth leads on adoption by 1,520% (8,359 vs 516 stars). tinyauth is written in Go under AGPL-3.0; openvpn-auth-oauth2 is written in Go under MIT. tinyauth has attracted 3% as many forks as stars, openvpn-auth-oauth2 12%. tinyauth was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (oidc, sso), 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
| tinyauth | openvpn-auth-oauth2 | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 8.4K | ★ 516 |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Go | Go |
| Last push | 2026-10-11 | 2026-10-09 |
| Forks | ⑂ 281 | ⑂ 64 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick tinyauth if
- You weight community size — 8.4K stars and counting
- You want the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick openvpn-auth-oauth2 if
- You want the openvpn-auth-oauth2 feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and openvpn-auth-oauth2 fits your workflow better
About tinyauth
Tinyauth is a small Go authentication and authorization server that runs either as authentication middleware in front of self hosted applications or as a standalone authentication server, and it is aimed at self hosters and homelab operators who want OpenID Certified™ single sign on without deploying a large identity platform.
read the full tinyauth overview →
About openvpn-auth-oauth2
openvpn auth oauth2 is an OpenVPN management client and plugin that lets VPN users sign in through any OIDC compatible identity provider, aimed at administrators who want single sign on for their OpenVPN server.
read the full openvpn-auth-oauth2 overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is tinyauth or openvpn-auth-oauth2 more popular?
tinyauth has 8,359 GitHub stars and openvpn-auth-oauth2 has 516. tinyauth has the larger community by that measure.
Are tinyauth and openvpn-auth-oauth2 free?
Both are open source. tinyauth is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and openvpn-auth-oauth2 under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between tinyauth and openvpn-auth-oauth2?
tinyauth is written in Go and openvpn-auth-oauth2 in Go. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, tinyauth or openvpn-auth-oauth2?
Choose tinyauth if you want the larger community (8,359 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose openvpn-auth-oauth2 if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.