Shibboleth Consortium

What Shibboleth Consortium does

The Shibboleth Consortium is a non-profit entity founded in April 2013 by Jisc, Internet2, and SWITCH to provide formal financial and governance support for the Shibboleth open-source identity management project, which originated as an Internet2 Middleware initiative in 2000 and released its Identity Provider 1.0 in 2003. Headquartered in Oxford, England, the Consortium maintains a portfolio of four core software products — Identity Provider, Service Provider, Embedded Discovery Service, and Metadata Aggregator — built on SAML (Security Assertion Markup Language) standards for federated identity management and single sign-on (SSO). The software is among the most widely deployed identity management solutions in the world, with approximately 70% share of the nearly 2,500 entities registered in the UK federation and adoption across 17 or more countries.

The Consortium operates a community-driven open-source model. Its core development team — which grew to 9 members by 2020 — maintains the software, provides member-only technical support via Slack and direct Q&A, and guides a community-influenced roadmap. Revenue is generated entirely through annual membership fees across three tiers (NREN/Federation, Academic/Non-Profit, Commercial) at Small, Medium, and Large sizes, with over 50 member organisations globally. Primary customers are National Research and Education Networks (NRENs) such as Internet2, Jisc, SWITCH, NORDUnet, and CANARIE, along with academic institutions including the University of Oxford, MIT, Cornell, and the University of Toronto, plus a small but growing commercial and healthcare footprint.

The business model is non-profit and subscription-based, with core founding partners (Internet2, Jisc, SWITCH) holding Principal Member status that confers board representation and outsized governance influence. The Consortium experienced a financial contraction in 2015–2016 when reserves were depleted, prompting a 2017 restructuring of membership fees and the gating of core developer support to paying members — a change that drove membership growth from 21 to 40 within a year and ultimately to over 50 members by 2020.

Name

Shibboleth Consortium

Legal name

Shibboleth Consortium

Website

https://shibboleth.net

Company type

Private

Founded year

2013

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Shibboleth Consortium is a non-profit that funds and maintains the open-source Shibboleth identity management software, providing SAML-based federated single sign-on to research and education networks, universities, and commercial organisations across 17+ countries via a membership-based model.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Identity and Access Management Software

NAICS

Software Publishers (5132), Custom Computer Programming Services (541511)

SIC

Services-Membership Organizations (8600), Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370)

akta.pro primary industry

Single Sign-On (SSO) & Federation (SAML/OIDC, Identity Providers) (HDAEAJAB)

akta.pro secondary industries

Federation & Identity Standards (SAML/OIDC/OAuth, Federation Hubs) (HDADAAAG), Identity, Access & Account Services (SSO, MFA, Provisioning, Password Reset) (EDALAMAD), Identity, Access Control & Device Authentication Infrastructure (SSO/Directory, NAC) (EDAEAHAG)

Keywords

• Federated identity management
• Single sign-on software
• SAML authentication
• Identity provider software
• Open-source IAM

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Consortium Membership Fees: The Shibboleth Consortium generates funding through membership fees from organisations including NRENs, academic institutions, and commercial companies. These fees fund the ongoing maintenance, development, and technical support of Shibboleth software products.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

The Shibboleth Consortium develops and maintains a suite of open-source identity management software based on the SAML standard, providing federated single sign-on (SSO), authentication, and authorization for academic, research, and commercial organizations. The suite comprises an Identity Provider, a Service Provider, an Embedded Discovery Service, and a Metadata Aggregator, enabling secure identity federation across organizational boundaries.

Product overview

The Shibboleth Consortium offers an open-source identity management software suite consisting of four core and add-on products. The flagship product is the Identity Provider, a Single Sign-On solution that handles user authentication and privacy. The Service Provider integrates with web servers to enable federated authentication and web application access. Two supporting products—the Embedded Discovery Service and Metadata Aggregator—extend functionality by providing user-friendly Identity Provider discovery and metadata management for organisations running multiple identity providers. Together, these products form a comprehensive identity management solution widely deployed in academic, research, and commercial organisations worldwide.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Identity Provider: A Single Sign-On solution that prioritizes the experience and privacy of users and keeps workforce connected both within and between organisations.
• Service Provider
• Embedded Discovery Service
• Metadata Aggregator

Products and services

• Shibboleth Identity Provider A Single Sign-On solution that prioritizes the experience and privacy of users and keeps workforce connected both within and between organisations.
• Shibboleth Service Provider A product with a variety of authorization and policy-oriented features that integrates with popular web servers and enables web application usage.
• Embedded Discovery Service Designed to work alongside the Service Provider, this product is simple to install and improves user experience by providing an easy-to-navigate list of Identity Providers.
• Metadata Aggregator For organisations operating multiple identity providers, this product helps read, process and dynamically query metadata.

Quantifiable outcome

• Roughly 70% of the almost 2,500 entities registered in the UK federation run Shibboleth
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers12 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Internet2coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 April 2013Internet2 is a not-for-profit networking consortium deploying advanced networks and applications to research and education communities in the United States. It has 350 members including leading universities, corporations, research organisations, and regional/state R&E networks with more than 66,000 institutes connected. Internet2 was the original instigator of Shibboleth and serves as a Principal Member of the Consortium.
• JisccoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 April 2013Jisc is the provider of Janet, the UK's National Research and Education Network, connecting universities, research organisations, and tertiary colleges serving over 18 million users. Jisc runs the UK Access Management Federation and Assent. It is a founding Principal Member of the Consortium.
• SWITCHcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 April 2013SWITCH is the Swiss National Research and Education Network offering high-performance networking services to universities and research facilities. It also operates the Switch edu-ID identity federation. SWITCH is a founding Principal Member of the Consortium.
• SignetminorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerSignet is an identity firm specializing in integration of identity sources and applications. They work with existing systems to enhance identity management and integrate it with the broader world. They operate a free SAML 2.0 testing service running the latest releases of Shibboleth for community use at samltest.id.
• DAASI InternationalminorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerDAASI International is a Europe-wide leading service provider for (Federated) Identity & Access Management (IAM) based on open source software. Founded in 2000, they have been specialists for Shibboleth from early on and have implemented Shibboleth-based SSO solutions within numerous IAM projects, particularly for higher education and research libraries.
• Mind-MercatisminorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerMind-Mercatis is an Italian firm specializing in digitalization of business processes with a focus on integration challenges. They design architectures using key core technologies such as Shibboleth and Boomi, focusing on configuration, management and personalization of IDP and SPs, allowing customers to participate in federations like SPID, CIE, and IDEM.
• OmnibondminorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerOmnibond is a software engineering, consulting, and support company focused on Identity/Access Management (IAM), HPC and AI Cyberinfrastructure. Their OmniPasskey product enables passwordless capabilities to Research and Education Federations using Shibboleth technology.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Emerging players

• SimpleSAMLphp: Open-source PHP-based SAML implementation widely used in research and education. Directly competes with Shibboleth Identity Provider in the same R&E federations, particularly in Europe.
• GLUU (now Janssen): Open-source identity and access management platform derived from the original Gluu Server. Provides SSO, OAuth/OIDC/SAML, and federation features comparable to Shibboleth, often used in R&E and enterprise settings.

Direct peers

• ForgeRock: Identity platform offering SSO, federation, and access management. Competes head-to-head with Shibboleth in federated identity scenarios; now part of a larger identity platform owner post-acquisition.
• Okta: Leading cloud IAM provider offering SSO and federated identity for workforce and customer use cases. Directly comparable to Shibboleth in delivering SAML/OIDC-based SSO and federation, but commercial cloud-native versus Shibboleth's open-source, R&E-focused model.
• Auth0 (Okta): Developer-focused identity platform providing SSO, federation, and authentication-as-a-service. Competes with Shibboleth on SAML/OIDC federation, especially for application-side identity integration.
• Ping Identity: Enterprise-focused IAM vendor with strong SSO, federation, and access management capabilities. Directly comparable to Shibboleth's federation focus but targets commercial enterprises with proprietary products.
• Keycloak (Red Hat): Open-source IAM and SSO platform under Red Hat, supporting SAML, OIDC, and federation. Most direct open-source analog to Shibboleth, addressing both workforce and customer identity use cases.

Broad incumbents

• Google Cloud Identity / Workspace: Google's cloud identity offering providing SSO and federation at hyperscaler scale. Broad incumbent with comparable SAML support but as part of a much wider productivity/cloud portfolio.
• Microsoft Entra ID (Azure AD): Microsoft's cloud identity platform offering SSO, federation, and directory services at massive scale. A broad incumbent with overlapping SAML federation capabilities, but part of a much wider identity/security portfolio rather than a R&E specialist.
• SailPoint: Identity governance and administration platform with adjacent SSO/federation capabilities. Broader incumbent focused on identity lifecycle and governance rather than R&E federation specialization.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/shibboleth-consortium

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Shibboleth Consortium