Why Is SAML Still Used for Enterprise SSO Instead of OIDC?

SAML (Security Assertion Markup Language) remains prevalent in enterprise single sign-on (SSO) systems primarily due to its deep integration into existing infrastructures, compliance requirements, and established federation networks, despite the emergence of the more modern and developer-friendly OpenID Connect (OIDC). While OIDC, an identity layer on top of OAuth 2.0, offers advantages such as simplicity, JSON-native tokens, and better support for modern applications and machine-to-machine authentication, it has not replaced SAML largely because the migration involves significant costs, compliance revalidation, and operational risks. Enterprises continue to rely on SAML due to its rich attribute semantics and familiarity with certificate-based trust, while OIDC is gaining ground for new developments and mobile and API-first applications. The real-world scenario for SaaS products is to support both protocols, allowing for flexibility and compatibility with various customer identity providers, making the choice a configuration detail rather than an architectural constraint.

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