Permit.io is an “Authorization as a Service” product that offers policy creation and enforcement tooling. Permit.io utilizes a policy-as-code approach based on Open Policy Agent (OPA) and OPAL, in an effort to reduce the amount of custom code that teams need to write. The platform supports multiple authorization models including RBAC, ABAC, and ReBAC to accommodate various use cases.
The platform includes visual policy editing tools and user interfaces designed for cross-functional team accessibility. Organizations may find Permit.io suitable when seeking quick authorization implementation.
For startups and mid-sized companies evaluating authorization solutions, it's valuable to explore all available options to ensure the best fit for specific technical requirements and organizational needs.
While evaluating alternatives to Permit.io, there are several factors that you should consider:
Permit.io’s pricing is based on Monthly Active Users (MAUs) which can get expensive as your user base grows. The jump from the free tier (1,000 MAUs) to paid plans can be too steep for early stage startups with rapid user growth but limited budget.
Teams with low latency requirements might prefer solutions with more direct control over the authorization layer, especially for high throughput systems.
For smaller projects with straightforward requirements, Permit.io might be overkill with many authorization features such as SCIM (System for Cross-Domain Identity Management) that you might not need. Smaller teams might prefer a lighter, more focused solution.
Before picking a solution, you should think about how it’ll fit into the rest of your stack. Teams with unusual tech stacks or legacy systems might find other solutions are more compatible with their environment.
Organizations that value flexibility might want a solution with clearer migration paths. Relying too much on the Permit.io ecosystem can create a good deal of vendor lock-in.
Organizations with strict compliance requirements or specific deployment needs might find Permit.io’s deployment options too limited, especially those that need full control over their authorization infrastructure.
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Oso is the best Permit alternative for engineering driven companies that want more control and flexibility in their authorization implementation. Oso is a specialized authorization layer that integrates seamlessly into your existing codebase with a focus on developer-friendly workflows.
Oso offers several advantages that make it the better choice. The platform has an intuitive API design that makes implementation a breeze. Additionally, its purpose-built architecture is specifically optimized for microservices environments, making it great for the unique challenges of distributed systems. From my experience, this focus on developer-friendliness and easy of use makes a big difference, especially when you’re not an authorization expert.
With Oso, there are no surprises, and you’ll be working with a platform that you can rely on. Oso has a simple pricing model that makes budget planning very straightforward. They have predictable pricing starting at $149/month for the Startup tier. In terms of reliability, the platform delivers industry-leading uptime with 99.99% SLA guarantees, ensuring consistent availability for critical authorization functions. It’s trusted by teams such as Duolingo, PagerDuty, and Wayfair to run their authorization logic.
If switching to Oso sounds daunting, rest assured that there’s comprehensive migration tooling and services that are really handy for teams transitioning from existing systems. This significantly reduces implementation time and resource requirements.
In short, Oso is great for engineering teams that value control and flexibility while still wanting the benefits of a specialized authorization framework.
Why Oso is better than Permit.io?
What is Oso’s Pricing?
Oso’s pricing is diverse, designed to support different businesses. Developer-tier is free, while the first paid tier is a start-up tier retailing at $149/mo. Their growth tiers and migration services are custom priced based on needs.
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Auth0 is an identity platform with clean-cut APIs and SDKs.
Although Auth0 is mostly an identity platform, you’ll find that they provide authorization functionality as well through their Rules and Actions features. Auth0 stands out from Permit through its integration marketplace that contains connections to other technology stacks and third party services. This one platform for authorization and authentication plus the marketplace makes Auth0 a good choice if you don’t have complex authorization needs. This only becomes a challenge, if you decide to expand your authorization functionality down the line.
When thinking about Auth0 for your authorization, you should consider several factors. First, Auth0 doesn’t provide you much room to grow into a more sophisticated authorization process. Their approach to authorization is quite different than many dedicated authorization solution, meaning when the time comes to migrate away, it’ll be quite the undertaking. If you don’t expect to have complex authorization, you won’t need to move away, right? This isn’t always the case, especially for growing companies, and it comes down to cost. You’ll be paying quite a bit more to do authorization through Auth0 compared to a dedicated authorization solution. I’ve seen several cases of teams needing to move away from Auth0 as they grow due to cost alone.
What are Pros of Auth0?
What are Cons of Auth0?
What is Auth0’s Pricing?
Auth0 offers a free-tier as well as premium-tiers. The most basic of the premium-tiers can range from $35-$150/month for 500 users based on use case. They also offer yearly pricing, as well as range to pick monthly active users.
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Open Policy Agent, or OPA, is an open-source framework for authorization.
Under the hood, Permit.io uses OPA. OPA is an open-source policy engine that gives you a unified framework for enforcing policies across your tech stack. Rather than using OPA through Permit, your very much could use OPA directly.
Using OPA directly is great if you want the flexibility and cost savings associated with using an open-source project. With no licensing cost, OPA is a great choice for budget conscience teams who are looking to build complex authorization flows. Going directly to the open-source project also gives you the ultimate flexibility and protection against vendor lock-in. You can also rely on the OPA project. It has strong adoption in cloud-native environments and a very strong community that’s supporting it.
I’ve seen my fair share of teams dive directly into OPA, thinking they can roll their own authorization solution. Quickly they realize they’re in over their heads. This is because using OPA directly requires significant implementation resources from specialized experts in policy definition and system integration. OPA also lacks any functionality that would allow non-engineers to change the policies. If you want this, you’ll need to develop custom dashboards. Then there’s also the task of running and managing the infrastructure to support OPA. In short, if you are budget constrained but have the specialized resources required to operate OPA directly, it could be a good alternative to Permit.
What are Pros of Open Policy Agent?
What are Cons of Open Policy Agent?
What is OPA’s Pricing?
OPA is open-source and free to use. However, there may be costs to implementing the solution.
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Another alternative is Cerbos.
If using OPA directly sounds like a daunting task, Cerbos could be a good solution. Cerbos has an open-source core with optional commercial support. This gives you pretty flexible adoption pathways based on your team’s requirements. You can start with the open-source and then buy additional support and capabilities as needed.
Cerbos includes several notable features for organizations evaluating authorization options. Cerbos uses a YAML-based policy definition system which provides a simple policy creation and management experience. Cerbos is also easier to use than OPA because it comes with application-focused design patterns out of the box. This makes it easier to plug Cerbos into your product. Compared to cloud only authorization products, Cerbos offers local deployment options. This is great for teams that need ultra low latency authorization decisions.
When looking at Cerbos, there are several things to keep in mind, though. Cerbos is one of the newer players in the market which means it has a less mature ecosystem and less robust community resources.
Additionally, Cerbos provides more limited out-of-box integration options compared to other products. This means you might need additional development for specific technology stacks. The solution also offers limited interfaces for non-technical users, which may impact adoption in organizations where non-developers need to manage authorization policies.
In short Cerbos requires more implementation effort than fully-managed alternatives, but still gives you the flexibility of an open-source core. This is great if you see OPA as daunting but don’t want to rely on a service like Permit.
What are Pros of Cerbos?
What are Cons of Cerbos?
What is Cerbos’s Pricing?
Cerbos features multiple plans. Their open-source plan is free forever. Cerbos Hub begins at $0/month for up to 100 monthly active principals. Their growth subscription retails at $25/month based on monthly active principals.
Oso was built from the ground up as a microservices solution. Its architecture is designed to handle the complex authorization needs of distributed systems so it’s perfect for modern cloud native applications.
Oso puts the developer experience first with clean, simple APIs and comprehensive docs. The learning curve is shorter and the integration feels more natural for engineering teams.
One of Oso’s biggest advantages is our dedicated migration service which can reduce migration time by up to 75%. This is especially helpful for teams moving from homegrown solutions or other authorization systems.
Oso offers cloud, hybrid and on-premises deployment options with 99.99% SLA so you have more control over your authorization infrastructure.
Oso’s pricing is more transparent with clear tiers starting at $149/month for startups. This is great for growing companies.
For companies looking for an alternative to Permit.io, Oso stands out as the best solution. It’s a modern platform, built from the ground up to be developer friendly and microservices first. It provides the best combination of flexibility and simplicity that allows your team to get started quickly, and scale effortlessly. Lastly, it’s battle tested - trusted by companies like Duolingo, PagerDuty, and Wayfair.
Oso is better in microservices environments with its purpose-built architecture and developer-friendly approach. Clearer pricing, dedicated migration services and higher SLA’s make it more attractive for engineering driven companies.
Migration complexity depends on your implementation but Oso’s dedicated migration services can reduce transition time by up to 75%. Our team will ensure 100% parity with your existing system while minimizing engineering overhead.
Yes, Oso has multi-tenancy out of the box, so it’s perfect for SaaS applications that need to manage permissions across different customer environments.
Both have local authorization decisions to minimize latency. But Oso’s microservices first design may have performance advantages in distributed systems where authorization decisions need to be made across multiple services.
