# oauth2-proxy

7 Hacker News commenters recommended oauth2-proxy and 0 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 6 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Open-source proxy that puts a login or email allowlist in front of your apps, which people recommend as much lighter than running a full identity provider.

## Why people recommend it

- Adds authentication layer in front of apps (3 comments): "you can use oauth2-proxy and nginx to e.g. wrap an open source MCP with a layer of SSO" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48033212)) "I've been happily using oauth2-proxy with nginx as an extra layer of authentication" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47098776)) "You can use the great oauth2-proxy as a forward auth proxy to archive that" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49324665))
- Works well with nginx (2 comments): "you can use oauth2-proxy and nginx to e.g. wrap an open source MCP with a layer of SSO" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48033212)) "I've been happily using oauth2-proxy with nginx as an extra layer of authentication" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47098776))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Keycloak](https://hackerapproved.com/p/keycloak.md): 44 recommend
- [Authentik](https://hackerapproved.com/p/authentik.md): 14 recommend
- [FreeIPA](https://hackerapproved.com/p/freeipa.md): 14 recommend
- [Okta](https://hackerapproved.com/p/okta.md): 11 recommend
- [Microsoft Entra](https://hackerapproved.com/p/microsoft-entra.md): 8 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "oauth2-proxy", https://hackerapproved.com/p/oauth2-proxy/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).