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Best Kubernetes Identity & SSO for self-hosting

The 14 best Kubernetes identity & sso you can self-host, ranked by community traction.

Keycloak

Open-source identity and access management for modern apps

Replaces Okta, Auth0

★ 37.3k Hard setup Apache-2.0

Ory Hydra

Certified OAuth 2.0 and OpenID Connect server

Replaces Okta, Auth0

★ 17.6k Hard setup Apache-2.0

ZITADEL

Cloud-native identity infrastructure with multi-tenancy built

Replaces Auth0, Okta

★ 15.3k Medium setup Apache-2.0

Ory Kratos

Headless identity and user management API server

Replaces Auth0, Firebase Auth

★ 13.9k Hard setup Apache-2.0

Open Policy Agent

General-purpose policy engine for cloud-native stacks

Replaces AWS IAM policies

★ 12.4k Medium setup Apache-2.0

Apereo CAS

Enterprise single sign-on server for web applications

Replaces Okta, Ping Identity

★ 11.4k Hard setup Apache-2.0

Dex

OpenID Connect identity provider with pluggable connectors

Replaces Okta, Auth0

★ 11.2k Medium setup Apache-2.0

OpenFGA

High-performance fine-grained authorization engine

Replaces Auth0 FGA

★ 6k Medium setup Apache-2.0

Cerbos

Scalable, decoupled authorization service

Replaces Auth0 FGA, OPA

★ 4.6k Medium setup Apache-2.0

Janssen Project

Cloud-native identity and access management platform

Replaces Okta, Auth0

★ 652 Hard setup Apache-2.0

midPoint

Open-source identity governance and administration platform

Replaces SailPoint, Saviynt

★ 537 Hard setup Apache-2.0

Apache Syncope

Open-source system for managing digital identities

Replaces SailPoint, Okta

★ 343 Hard setup Apache-2.0

OpenUnison

Identity management and SSO portal for Kubernetes

Replaces Okta

★ 137 Hard setup Apache-2.0

Gluu Flex

Enterprise identity and access management platform

Replaces Okta, Ping Identity

★ 31 Hard setup Apache-2.0

At a glance

App	Deploy effort	Difficulty	Min. RAM	License	★ Stars
Keycloak	Under-an-hour setup	Hard	1,024 MB	Apache-2.0	37,335
Ory Hydra	Under-an-hour setup	Hard	256 MB	Apache-2.0	17,607
ZITADEL	Under-an-hour setup	Medium	512 MB	Apache-2.0	15,305
Ory Kratos	Under-an-hour setup	Hard	256 MB	Apache-2.0	13,921
Open Policy Agent	Under-an-hour setup	Medium	256 MB	Apache-2.0	12,362
Apereo CAS	Under-an-hour setup	Hard	1,024 MB	Apache-2.0	11,387
Dex	Under-an-hour setup	Medium	128 MB	Apache-2.0	11,187
OpenFGA	Under-an-hour setup	Medium	256 MB	Apache-2.0	5,965
Cerbos	Under-an-hour setup	Medium	256 MB	Apache-2.0	4,621
Janssen Project	Read-the-docs project	Hard	4,096 MB	Apache-2.0	652

Quick picks

Most adopted: Keycloak (37,335 GitHub stars).
Lightest footprint: Dex (from 128 MB RAM, against 4,096 MB for the heaviest here).
Licensing: 14 of 14 use Apache-2.0; check the rest individually if you plan to modify and redistribute.

Every option here is open-source and self-hostable, tagged Kubernetes within the identity & sso category. Deploy effort is graded from published container recipes, not vendor claims — see the methodology.

Keep exploring

All Identity & SSO Easiest Identity & SSO to self-host How to choose identity provider: the Identity & SSO buyer's guide

Head-to-head: Kubernetes identity & sso