Authgear vs Ory Kratos
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted identity & sso options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Authgear
Open-source authentication and user management server
VS
Ory Kratos
Headless identity and user management API server
| Feature | Authgear | Ory Kratos |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 86 · Excellent | 89 · Excellent |
| Category | Identity & SSO | Identity & SSO |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Go | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, kubernetes | docker, kubernetes, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 2,061 | ★ 13,888 |
| First released | 2021 | 2020 |
| Replaces | Auth0, Firebase Auth | Auth0, Firebase Auth |
What are Authgear and Ory Kratos?
Authgear
Authgear is an open-source authentication-as-a-service platform supporting passwordless login, social login, and multi-factor authentication. It is self-hosted to provide identity for web and mobile apps.
- Passwordless and social login
- Built-in MFA
- User management dashboard
- OIDC compliant
Ory Kratos
Ory Kratos is an API-first identity and user management system. It handles login, registration, profile management, account recovery and multi-factor authentication without prescribing a user interface.
- Headless API for full UI control
- Self-service flows for login and recovery
- Pluggable MFA including TOTP and WebAuthn
- Cloud-native and stateless design
Authgear vs Ory Kratos: key differences
Both projects are written in Go. Ory Kratos is the lighter option, starting around 256 MB of RAM against 1,024 MB for Authgear. Ory Kratos has the considerably larger community, at 13,888 GitHub stars versus 2,061.
Why pick each one
Choose Authgear if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Kubernetes-ready with Helm charts available
- Active community (2.1k GitHub stars)
Choose Ory Kratos if…
- Extremely flexible architecture
- Excellent for custom frontends
Watch out for
- Requires building your own UI
- Complex initial setup
Frequently asked questions
Is Authgear or Ory Kratos better?
Neither is universally better. Ory Kratos has the larger community; both share a hard setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Authgear and Ory Kratos free and open-source?
Yes. Authgear is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Ory Kratos under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Authgear and Ory Kratos with Docker?
Authgear: yes. Ory Kratos: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Authgear or Ory Kratos?
Ory Kratos has the smaller minimum footprint at 256 MB of RAM, compared to about 1,024 MB for Authgear. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.