head to head · open source
Zitadel vs oauth2-proxy
Zitadel has 15,060 GitHub stars, 1,317 forks, 1,171 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. oauth2-proxy has 14,982 stars, 2,196 forks, 285 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Zitadel leads on adoption by 1% (15,060 vs 14,982 stars). Zitadel is written in Go under AGPL-3.0; oauth2-proxy is written in Go under MIT. Zitadel has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, oauth2-proxy 15%. oauth2-proxy was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (oauth2, oidc), 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
| Zitadel | oauth2-proxy | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 15K | ★ 15K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Go | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.3K | ⑂ 2.2K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Zitadel if
- You weight community size — 15K 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 oauth2-proxy if
- You want the oauth2-proxy feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and oauth2-proxy fits your workflow better
About Zitadel
Zitadel is an open source identity and access management platform written in Go and released under the AGPL 3.0 license. It lives in the open source IAM ecosystem and provides identity infrastructure for developers who need to operate an authentication and authorization layer themselves.
read the full Zitadel overview →
About oauth2-proxy
OAuth2 Proxy is an open source, MIT licensed reverse proxy and middleware written in Go that puts OAuth2 and OpenID Connect authentication in front of web applications, aimed at operators and platform teams who need single sign on without adding auth code to every app.
read the full oauth2-proxy overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Zitadel or oauth2-proxy more popular?
Zitadel has 15,060 GitHub stars and oauth2-proxy has 14,982. Zitadel has the larger community by that measure.
Are Zitadel and oauth2-proxy free?
Both are open source. Zitadel is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and oauth2-proxy under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Zitadel and oauth2-proxy?
Zitadel is written in Go and oauth2-proxy 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, Zitadel or oauth2-proxy?
Choose Zitadel if you want the larger community (15,060 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose oauth2-proxy if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.