SSO vs OAuth: Key Differences You Must Know

OAuth and Single Sign-On (SSO) are often confused but serve different purposes. OAuth is an authorization protocol that allows users to grant one app limited access to their data on another app or service, while SSO is an authentication method that enables users to authenticate once with an Identity Provider (IdP) and gain access to multiple apps. Use OAuth when you want to access or modify data in another service on behalf of a user, and use SSO when you want to authenticate users via a centralized identity provider. The choice between the two depends on whether your priority is gaining access to a user's data (OAuth) or simplifying the login process (SSO).