What is Pocket ID used for?

Pocket ID is a simple self-hosted identity provider for OpenID Connect and OAuth 2.0 that signs users in to your apps with passkeys only, without passwords. It is a good fit for single sign-on for homelab services and passwordless login for small teams.

Is Pocket ID open source?

Yes. Pocket ID is open source under the BSD-2-Clause licence. Its source code is on GitHub at pocket-id/pocket-id and is written mainly in Go.

Yes. Pocket ID is open source, so the software itself is free to use.

Can I self-host Pocket ID?

Yes. Pocket ID can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure.

What is Pocket ID an alternative to?

Pocket ID is an open-source alternative to Auth0, Beyond Identity and HYPR. Other open-source alternatives to Auth0 include Hanko, Authentik and Authgear.

Is Pocket ID actively maintained?

Yes. The most recent commit to Pocket ID was on 2 October 2026, and the latest release is v2.17.0, published on 1 October 2026. The project has 9.4k stars on GitHub.

Pocket ID: open-source alternative to Auth0, Beyond Identity

About Pocket ID

Pocket ID is a self-hosted identity provider that speaks OpenID Connect and OAuth 2.0 and is described as OpenID Connect certified. Users sign in to your applications with passkeys, so there are no passwords to store, reset or leak, and a hardware key such as a YubiKey can unlock all of your self-hosted services.

Its goal is simplicity. The author notes that existing self-hosted providers like Keycloak or ORY Hydra are often too complex for simple use cases, and Pocket ID aims to be easy to set up and use. The distinctive design choice is that it supports only passkey authentication, which the project argues is the future, and a demo is available to try it.

The recommended installation is Docker, with a setup guide in the documentation. Pocket ID is written in Go and released under the BSD 2-Clause licence. It suits homelab users and small teams who want single sign-on across self-hosted applications without administering a heavyweight identity system.

Key features

OpenID Connect and OAuth 2.0 provider
Passkey-only sign-in for users
No passwords to manage
Hardware key sign-in such as YubiKey
Recommended setup with Docker
Lightweight Go server

Good fit for

→Single sign-on for homelab services
→Passwordless login for small teams
→Simple alternative to Keycloak

Built with: Go
Tags: oidc; oauth; passkeys; sso; identity-provider; self-hosted; passwordless; golang

Pocket ID: questions and answers

What is Pocket ID used for?: Pocket ID is a simple self-hosted identity provider for OpenID Connect and OAuth 2.0 that signs users in to your apps with passkeys only, without passwords. It is a good fit for single sign-on for homelab services and passwordless login for small teams.
Is Pocket ID open source?: Yes. Pocket ID is open source under the BSD-2-Clause licence. Its source code is on GitHub at pocket-id/pocket-id and is written mainly in Go.
Is Pocket ID free?: Yes. Pocket ID is open source, so the software itself is free to use.
Can I self-host Pocket ID?: Yes. Pocket ID can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure.
What is Pocket ID an alternative to?: Pocket ID is an open-source alternative to Auth0, Beyond Identity and HYPR. Other open-source alternatives to Auth0 include Hanko, Authentik and Authgear.
Is Pocket ID actively maintained?: Yes. The most recent commit to Pocket ID was on 2 October 2026, and the latest release is v2.17.0, published on 1 October 2026. The project has 9.4k stars on GitHub.