Keycloak has long been a popular choice for developers and organizations looking for an open-source identity and access management (IAM) solution. With features like SSO, LDAP integration, and support for major protocols like OAuth2 and SAML, it’s easy to see why Keycloak is often the default. But as infrastructure needs grow and IAM demands evolve, many teams are reevaluating whether Keycloak is still the best fit.
In this post, we’ll explore the top Keycloak alternatives in 2025 — from lightweight self-hosted solutions to fully managed enterprise-grade platforms — and help you decide what might work best for your team.
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While Keycloak is powerful, it isn’t always the most convenient solution. Here are a few reasons teams look for an alternative:
So, what makes a good Keycloak alternative? A modern IAM solution should:
Let’s dive into the top alternatives worth checking out in 2025.
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What is Oso:
Oso is an open-source authorization engine designed to simplify access control logic. Rather than handling authentication or identity management itself, Oso focuses specifically on authorization—fine-grained, logic-driven access decisions that you define in code using a policy language called Polar.
Why is Oso better than Keycloak:
If your team wants fine-grained control over authorization logic but doesn’t need a full user management system, Oso can complement lighter authentication systems beautifully. It’s ideal for apps with complex permissions, like multi-tenant SaaS or systems with nested roles and resources.
Pros:
Cons:
What is Oso’s pricing?
Oso provides flexible pricing plans tailored to various business scales. Their Developer-tier starts at $0 per month, while the Startup-tier begins at $149 per month. For their Growth-tier and migration services, pricing is customized based on individual consultations with their experts.
Auth0 is a fully managed identity platform that simplifies authentication and authorization through SDKs, APIs, and a sleek dashboard. It supports social login, enterprise SSO, and multifactor authentication right out of the box.
Why it’s a good alternative:
Auth0 lets teams ship authentication fast without becoming identity experts. Its robust feature set is ideal for growing applications that need to support complex login flows or multiple identity providers.
Pros:
Cons:
What is Auth0’s Pricing?
Auth0 provides both a free-tier and several premium-tier options. The entry-level premium plan ranges from $35 to $150 per month for 500 users, depending on the specific use case. They also offer annual pricing and allow customization based on the number of monthly active users.
Ory is a modular, cloud-native IAM platform composed of purpose-built services like Kratos (identity), Hydra (OAuth2), Keto (RBAC), and Oathkeeper (gateway).
Why it’s a good alternative:
Ory breaks monoliths like Keycloak into composable services. It’s ideal for teams deploying on Kubernetes or building large-scale, distributed systems where control over every IAM layer is necessary.
Pros:
Cons:
What is Ory’s Pricing?
Ory is primarily based on a free open-source core. However, they offer premium cloud tiers based on the user’s need. Their lowest-tier, Ory Network Production, retails at $70/month.
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Okta is a trusted enterprise identity provider offering authentication, user lifecycle management, and SSO across workforce and customer-facing applications.
Why it’s a good alternative:
Okta delivers deep compliance features and battle-tested reliability. If you're serving a regulated industry or managing thousands of internal users, Okta offers tooling that few others match.
Pros:
Cons:
What is Okta’s Pricing?
Okta comes with a higher price point than some alternatives and often involves complex enterprise setups that may need specialized expertise. Similar to Microsoft Entra ID, Okta’s entry-level plan is priced at $6 per user per month.
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FusionAuth is a complete identity platform that’s installable on your infrastructure or via the cloud. It’s designed with developers in mind, supporting OAuth2, OpenID, JWT, and customizable login flows.
Why it’s a good alternative:
FusionAuth offers the control of Keycloak without the same operational burden. It’s highly configurable and handles a wide range of use cases from multi-tenant SaaS to CIAM.
Pros:
Cons:
What is FusionAuth’s Pricing?
Free for self-hosted version available. FusionAuth generally dictates their pricing based on the plan you choose, as well as the type of hosting selected. They offer a monthly pricing calculator on their webpage, allowing users to play with numbers and options before selecting.
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Gluu is a security-focused, open-source IAM platform designed for enterprises needing SAML, OpenID Connect, and UMA support.
Why it’s a good alternative:
If you’re in a compliance-heavy sector like healthcare or finance, Gluu provides flexibility and security without the vendor lock-in of managed IAM providers.
Pros:
Cons:
What is Gluu’s Pricing?
Gluu is free open-source. However, they do offer commercial support which is typically based on MAU’s.
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Part of the Supabase ecosystem, Supabase Auth is a simple but effective authentication system built on GoTrue (originally from Netlify). It supports social logins, email magic links, and passwordless login.
Why it’s a good alternative:
Perfect for fast prototyping or projects already using Supabase’s database and serverless functions. It keeps your stack tight and easy to manage.
Pros:
Cons:
What is Supabase’s Pricing?
Supabase offers a free-tier with 50,000 MAU and limited specs. Upgrading to the higher-tiers offer better specs, with the next being the pro-tier retailing from $25/month.
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Clerk provides frontend-centric authentication for React, Next.js, and other JavaScript frameworks. It comes with drop-in UI components and APIs for managing sessions, MFA, and user profiles.
Why it’s a good alternative:
If your frontend stack is React-heavy, Clerk gets you to production quickly with minimal boilerplate. It handles session and user state without needing custom logic.
Pros:
Cons:
What is Clerk’s Pricing?
Clerk offers a free-tier for up 10,000 MAUs including everything needed to get started. Their next tier is their pro plan which begins at $20/month and $0.02/MAU after your first 10,000.
Amazon Cognito is a managed identity service from AWS. It combines user pools (authentication) with identity pools (federation) for managing user identity and access.
Why it’s a good alternative:
If you’re building on AWS and don’t want to leave the ecosystem, Cognito provides reasonable IAM integration with your Lambda functions, API Gateway, and other services.
Pros:
Cons:
What is Amazon Cognito’s Pricing?
Amazon Cognito offers a pay-as-you-go pricing model making it cost effective with usage variance. They offer a free-tier for the first 10,000 users and charge per user based on region after crossing the threshold. They also offer more advanced-tiers, which come at greater costs and no free trials.
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Authentik is a modern open-source authentication provider that supports OAuth2, SAML, and LDAP, built with modern developer needs in mind.
Why it’s a good alternative:
It’s arguably what Keycloak should have been—lightweight, modern, Docker-native, and built for today’s security needs. Perfect for self-hosters and homelab pros.
Pros:
Cons:
What is Authentik’s Pricing?
Authentik is free and open-source, but also has premium-tiers starting at $5/user/month. Their enterprise subscription is based on a consultation, but is said to begin at $20k/year billed annually.
Keycloak has earned its spot in the IAM world, but it's not the only game in town. Whether you're looking for better scalability, cleaner developer experience, or tighter control over your access policies, there's a solution that fits your stack better.
Open-source purists might gravitate toward Ory or Authentik, while those prioritizing ease-of-use might prefer Auth0, Clerk, or FusionAuth. If you’re already invested in AWS, Cognito might be the most seamless option.
Ultimately, the right alternative depends on your team size, hosting preferences, feature needs, and budget. Try a few — and see which one makes identity management feel like less of a chore and more of an accelerator.
