Casdoor vs PropelAuth

Casdoor is a fully open-source, self-hostable identity platform with very broad protocol support (OAuth2, OIDC, SAML, CAS, LDAP, WebAuthn), 100+ built-in…

Best for Casdoor: Engineering teams that want to self-host identity infrastructure at no license cost, need broad protocol coverage (OAuth2, OIDC, SAML, CAS, LDAP), or want AI coding assistants like Claude Desktop or Cursor to manage the identity platform itself via its native MCP server fit Casdoor.
Best for PropelAuth: B2B SaaS teams that want a managed service with prebuilt UI components, self-service SAML/SSO setup, and MCP server authentication for their own AI-agent-facing product are better served by PropelAuth.

At a Glance

 CasdoorPropelAuth
Primary categorySecuritySecurity
RatingNot documentedNot documented
Pricing modelFree/Open-source (self-hosted)Freemium subscription based on monthly active users (MAUs), with a free tier, paid Growth and Growth Plus plans, and custom-quoted Enterprise pricing for larger deployments.
Starting priceFreeFree for up to 10,500 monthly active users; Growth plan starts at $150 per month
Free planNot documentedYes
Free trialNot documentedNot documented
PlatformsWebWeb
Team collaborationNot documentedNot documented
AI featuresYesNot documented
Public APIYesYes

Key Differences

Deployment Model & Cost

Casdoor: Casdoor is fully open source and free to self-host with no license cost.

PropelAuth: PropelAuth is a managed SaaS with a free tier (10,000 MAUs) but paid tiers starting at $150/month for Growth and $500/month for Growth Plus.

Self-hosting eliminates recurring license fees but requires operational effort; managed SaaS trades ongoing cost for reduced operational burden.

Protocol Breadth

Casdoor: Casdoor documents very broad protocol support: OAuth 2.0, OIDC, SAML, CAS, LDAP, WebAuthn, and MFA, plus 100+ built-in identity provider connectors.

PropelAuth: PropelAuth's documented protocols are SAML, OIDC, and SCIM.

Organizations with legacy or diverse identity systems (e.g., LDAP-based corporate directories) need broader protocol coverage.

Built-In SaaS Billing

Casdoor: Casdoor includes built-in SaaS billing as a native feature: plans, pricing tiers, payment processing, and subscription management.

PropelAuth: PropelAuth does not document a billing/payments feature.

A native billing layer can reduce the need for a separate subscription management system.

AI-Agent Management Approach

Casdoor: Casdoor ships a native MCP server letting AI coding assistants (Claude Desktop, Cursor, VS Code Copilot) manage the Casdoor instance itself via natural language, plus OpenClaw for LLM agent protection with OpenTelemetry audit trails.

PropelAuth: PropelAuth's MCP feature (Growth plan and above) provides OAuth 2.1 authentication and token revocation for MCP servers an app exposes, not for managing the identity platform itself.

These are different use cases: managing the identity platform via AI versus securing an app's own AI-agent-facing MCP endpoints.

Prebuilt UI Components

Casdoor: Casdoor does not document a prebuilt UI component library; its focus is protocol and backend coverage.

PropelAuth: PropelAuth ships a customizable component library for rapid deployment of auth screens.

Prebuilt UI components speed up front-end integration for teams that don't want to build custom login screens.

Feature-by-Feature

Deployment & Pricing

FeatureCasdoorPropelAuth
Self-hostingAvailableUnavailable
Free managed cloud tierNot documentedAvailable
Published commercial pricingUnavailableAvailable

Protocol & Identity Provider Coverage

FeatureCasdoorPropelAuth
SAML SSOAvailableAvailable
LDAP supportAvailableNot documented
CAS protocolAvailableNot documented
Built-in identity provider connectorsAvailableNot documented

AI-Agent Features & Developer Experience

FeatureCasdoorPropelAuth
MCP server for managing the platform itselfAvailableUnavailable
MCP server authentication for an app's AI agentsLimitedAvailable
Prebuilt UI component libraryNot documentedAvailable
Built-in SaaS billing/paymentsAvailableNot documented

Pricing Compared

Starting price reflects the lowest paid tier, not the full cost for every team size or usage level.

Casdoor

No individual plan breakdown documented yet.

PropelAuth

Free — $0 Monthly
Growth — $150/month Monthly
Growth Plus — $500/month Monthly
Enterprise — Custom quote Annual

Pros & Cons

Casdoor

Pros

  • Broad protocol support (OAuth, OIDC, SAML, CAS, LDAP) in a single self-hosted deployment
  • Tight, native integration with Casbin for fine-grained authorization
  • Actively developed, including newer AI-agent authentication support via MCP/OAuth 2.1
  • Free and open source under Apache 2.0
  • UI-first design makes administration more approachable than many developer-only IAM tools

Cons

  • Self-hosting requires the team to own its own operations and security
  • Smaller ecosystem and community than commercial IAM vendors like Okta or Auth0
  • No official vendor support contract or SLA
  • Documentation and tooling are geared more toward developers than non-technical admins

PropelAuth

Pros

  • Purpose-built for B2B SaaS with organizations, roles, and permissions modeled as core concepts rather than add-ons
  • Unlimited SSO connections included on paid plans with no per-connection fees, unlike some competitors
  • Generous free tier covering up to 10,500 monthly active users
  • Self-serve SSO and SCIM setup reduces engineering overhead when onboarding enterprise customers

Cons

  • Small team size (estimated under 10 employees) means less scale than larger, more established identity providers
  • Less brand recognition than major identity platforms like Auth0 or Okta, which may matter for enterprise procurement checklists
  • SCIM directory sync requires stepping up to the pricier Growth Plus plan
  • As a young, venture-backed startup, long-term product roadmap and company stability carry more uncertainty than incumbents

Use Cases

Choose Casdoor: Engineering teams that want to self-host identity infrastructure at no license cost, need broad protocol coverage (OAuth2, OIDC, SAML, CAS, LDAP), or want AI coding assistants like Claude Desktop or Cursor to manage the identity platform itself via its native MCP server fit Casdoor.
Choose PropelAuth: B2B SaaS teams that want a managed service with prebuilt UI components, self-service SAML/SSO setup, and MCP server authentication for their own AI-agent-facing product are better served by PropelAuth.
Need both: It's plausible for an engineering-heavy organization to self-host Casdoor for internal tools and infrastructure identity, leveraging its free licensing and broad protocol support, while using PropelAuth's managed B2B service for a customer-facing product where a polished prebuilt UI and fast implementation matter more than self-hosting control.

Casdoor

  • Self-hosted SSO for applications — Replacing paid identity providers like Okta or Auth0 with a self-hosted OAuth/OIDC/SAML server.
  • Fine-grained access control on top of authentication — Combining Casdoor's authentication layer with Casbin's RBAC/ABAC authorization engine for detailed permission management.
  • AI agent authentication — Authenticating AI agents and tools via MCP and OAuth 2.1 rather than only human users.

PropelAuth

  • Enterprise-ready B2B SaaS onboarding — SaaS companies use PropelAuth to quickly offer SSO and SCIM to enterprise customers during procurement without building identity infrastructure in-house.
  • Multi-tenant organization management — Products with complex customer structures use PropelAuth's organization model to manage users who belong to multiple companies with different roles in each.
  • Reducing engineering overhead on auth — Engineering teams offload authentication, session management, and enterprise identity features to PropelAuth instead of maintaining custom auth infrastructure.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Casdoor free while PropelAuth is not?

Casdoor is fully open source and free to self-host with no license cost. PropelAuth has a free tier (10,000 MAUs) but paid plans starting at $150/month for features like unlimited SSO.

Which supports more identity protocols?

Casdoor documents broader protocol support, including OAuth2, OIDC, SAML, CAS, LDAP, and WebAuthn, plus 100+ identity provider connectors. PropelAuth documents SAML, OIDC, and SCIM.

Do both platforms support MCP for AI agents?

Both do, but differently. Casdoor's native MCP server lets AI assistants manage the Casdoor platform itself. PropelAuth's MCP feature (Growth plan+) authenticates MCP servers that an app exposes to its own AI agents.

Which is easier to deploy without self-hosting?

PropelAuth, as a managed SaaS with a free tier and published pricing. Casdoor requires self-hosting since no managed/commercial offering is documented.

Does Casdoor include billing features?

Yes, Casdoor includes built-in SaaS billing covering plans, pricing tiers, payment processing, and subscription management. PropelAuth does not document a billing feature.

Who uses Casdoor in production?

Casdoor lists notable users including Intel, VMware Harbor, Docker, Cisco, Microsoft, Alibaba, and Tencent.

Read the full Casdoor review · Read the full PropelAuth review