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  1. Stackups
  2. Utilities
  3. Authentication
  4. User Management And Authentication
  5. FreeRADIUS vs OAuth2

FreeRADIUS vs OAuth2

OverviewComparisonAlternatives

Overview

OAuth2
OAuth2
Stacks683
Followers650
Votes0
FreeRADIUS
FreeRADIUS
Stacks28
Followers36
Votes1

FreeRADIUS vs OAuth2: What are the differences?

FreeRADIUS and OAuth2 are both widely used in the field of authentication and authorization, but they differ significantly in terms of their working principles and features. In this Markdown code, we will explore the key differences between FreeRADIUS and OAuth2.
  1. Transport Protocol: FreeRADIUS primarily operates as a network protocol server and uses the RADIUS (Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service) protocol over UDP or TCP for communication. On the other hand, OAuth2 is an authorization framework that relies on HTTP/HTTPS as the transport protocol to enable secure exchanges between clients and servers.

  2. Authentication vs Authorization: FreeRADIUS focuses mainly on authentication, providing a centralized user authentication and accounting system. It is commonly used for various network services, such as Wi-Fi hotspot authentication. Conversely, OAuth2 is predominantly an authorization framework that allows clients to access protected resources on behalf of the resource owner. OAuth2 is often used in web and mobile applications to grant limited access to user data from other services.

  3. Scalability and Load Balancing: FreeRADIUS is designed to be highly scalable, enabling it to handle large amounts of network traffic efficiently. It supports features like load balancing and clustering, allowing for the distribution of authentication requests across multiple servers. In contrast, OAuth2 does not inherently provide built-in scalability and load balancing mechanisms. However, these functionalities can be implemented in the underlying infrastructure supporting the OAuth2 framework.

  4. User Management and Identity Stores: FreeRADIUS stores user information in its own database or integrates with external identity stores, such as LDAP or SQL databases. It allows for custom user management and flexible authentication methods. OAuth2, on the other hand, relies on existing identity providers (IdPs) for user management and authentication. It utilizes tokens to establish the user's identity and grant access to resources without directly handling user credentials.

  5. Authorization Grant Types: OAuth2 offers various grant types to support different use cases. These grant types include authorization code, implicit, client credentials, and resource owner password credentials. Each grant type serves a specific purpose, such as server-to-server communication or user interaction. In contrast, FreeRADIUS does not have explicit grant types but supports multiple authentication methods based on protocols like PAP (Password Authentication Protocol) or EAP (Extensible Authentication Protocol).

  6. Scope and Fine-Grained Access Control: OAuth2 provides a mechanism for defining scopes, which specify the level of access a client has to a resource. Scopes allow for fine-grained access control, enabling users to grant specific permissions to clients. FreeRADIUS, however, does not have an inherent concept of scopes. It primarily focuses on user authentication and accounting, allowing or denying access based on broader policies and rules defined in the RADIUS configuration.

In Summary, FreeRADIUS is a network protocol server primarily focused on authentication, scalability, and flexible user management, while OAuth2 is an authorization framework relying on HTTP/HTTPS, driven by scopes, and leveraging existing identity providers for user authentication and authorization.

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Detailed Comparison

OAuth2
OAuth2
FreeRADIUS
FreeRADIUS

It is an authorization framework that enables a third-party application to obtain limited access to an HTTP service, either on behalf of a resource owner by orchestrating an approval interaction between the resource owner and the HTTP service, or by allowing the third-party application to obtain access on its own behalf.

It is the open source implementation of RADIUS, an IETF protocol for AAA (Authorisation, Authentication, and Accounting).. It is responsible for authenticating one third of all users on the Internet.

Statistics
Stacks
683
Stacks
28
Followers
650
Followers
36
Votes
0
Votes
1
Pros & Cons
No community feedback yet
Pros
  • 1
    Very Lightweight
Integrations
No integrations available
PHP
PHP
MySQL
MySQL
OpenLDAP
OpenLDAP

What are some alternatives to OAuth2, FreeRADIUS ?

Auth0

Auth0

A set of unified APIs and tools that instantly enables Single Sign On and user management to all your applications.

Stormpath

Stormpath

Stormpath is an authentication and user management service that helps development teams quickly and securely build web and mobile applications and services.

Keycloak

Keycloak

It is an Open Source Identity and Access Management For Modern Applications and Services. It adds authentication to applications and secure services with minimum fuss. No need to deal with storing users or authenticating users. It's all available out of the box.

Devise

Devise

Devise is a flexible authentication solution for Rails based on Warden

Firebase Authentication

Firebase Authentication

It provides backend services, easy-to-use SDKs, and ready-made UI libraries to authenticate users to your app. It supports authentication using passwords, phone numbers, popular federated identity providers like Google,

Amazon Cognito

Amazon Cognito

You can create unique identities for your users through a number of public login providers (Amazon, Facebook, and Google) and also support unauthenticated guests. You can save app data locally on users’ devices allowing your applications to work even when the devices are offline.

WorkOS

WorkOS

Start selling to enterprise customers with just a few lines of code.

OAuth.io

OAuth.io

OAuth is a protocol that aimed to provide a single secure recipe to manage authorizations. It is now used by almost every web application. However, 30+ different implementations coexist. OAuth.io fixes this massive problem by acting as a universal adapter, thanks to a robust API. With OAuth.io integrating OAuth takes minutes instead of hours or days.

OmniAuth

OmniAuth

OmniAuth is a Ruby authentication framework aimed to abstract away the difficulties of working with various types of authentication providers. It is meant to be hooked up to just about any system, from social networks to enterprise systems to simple username and password authentication.

ORY Hydra

ORY Hydra

It is a self-managed server that secures access to your applications and APIs with OAuth 2.0 and OpenID Connect. It is OpenID Connect Certified and optimized for latency, high throughput, and low resource consumption.

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