Comparison

There are already many authentication solutions out there. SaaS options include clerk, auth0, and zitadel, while self-hosted solutions include authentik, keycloak, and pocketid.

They are all great products that solve their own unique problems. And so does Tinyauth.

Enterprise solutions

Authentik and Keycloak are powerful authentication solutions designed for enterprise environments. They provide features needed by large organizations such as LDAP integration, fine-grained permission management, and complex authentication policies.

However, these features can become obstacles in B2C SaaS environments. End users may be exposed to complex admin UIs, or unnecessary steps may be added to simple login flows.

They also require significant learning curves for configuration and operation, and have high resource requirements.

Lightweight solutions

On the other end, there are ultra-lightweight solutions like PocketID. They have the advantage of very simple configuration and quick setup.

However, they often lack features needed for B2C SaaS services. Essential features for user experience and compliance such as email verification, terms of service management, and various 2FA options may be missing.

Tinyauth’s position

Tinyauth aims to find the balance between these two extremes.

Borrowed from enterprise solutions:

Full support for standard OAuth 2.0 / OIDC protocols
Various authentication methods (passkeys, social login, TOTP)
Email verification and terms of service management

Borrowed from lightweight solutions:

All configuration in a single YAML file
Minimal resource requirements
Quick start and simple operation

And Tinyauth’s unique features:

UI optimized for B2C user experience
Profile page where users can manage their own accounts
Customization with 35+ themes to match your brand

Comparison table

Feature	Keycloak	Authentik	PocketID	Tinyauth
OAuth 2.0 / OIDC	✅	✅	✅	✅
Passkey (WebAuthn)	✅	✅	✅	✅
Social login	✅	✅	❌	✅
TOTP 2FA	✅	✅	❌	✅
Email verification	✅	✅	❌	✅
Terms of service	⚠️	⚠️	❌	✅
User profile page	⚠️	⚠️	✅	✅
YAML-based config	❌	❌	✅	✅
Lightweight deploy	❌	❌	✅	✅
B2C optimized UI	❌	❌	⚠️	✅

✅ Full support | ⚠️ Partial support or requires additional config | ❌ Not supported

When to choose Tinyauth?

Tinyauth is suitable if:

You’re building a B2C SaaS service
User-friendly login experience is important
You want self-hosting but want to avoid complex configuration
You need standard OIDC protocol

Consider other solutions if:

You need enterprise SSO: Keycloak or Authentik
You need LDAP/Active Directory integration: Keycloak or Authentik
You need minimal features only: PocketID
You want a managed service: Auth0, Clerk, Zitadel