SAML is a federation standard used to exchange authentication and authorization information between identity providers and service providers. It matters because many enterprise applications still rely on federated identity flows built on long-established standards.
What is SAML?
Security Assertion Markup Language, or SAML, allows one trusted identity system to authenticate a user and send an assertion to another application or service. It is widely used for enterprise single sign-on, especially in older SaaS and business application environments.
What SAML Commonly Supports
Common uses include enterprise single sign-on, workforce access to SaaS platforms, centralized identity management, and business-to-business federation.
SAML vs. OpenID Connect (OIDC)
SAML is XML-based and common in traditional enterprise federation. OIDC is newer, JSON-friendly, and widely used in modern web and mobile ecosystems.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is SAML important?
Because it remains deeply embedded in many enterprise identity and SaaS integrations.
Is SAML obsolete?
No. Newer systems often prefer OIDC, but SAML is still heavily used in many organizations.
