Authgear vs ZITADEL
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
ZITADEL
Cloud-native identity infrastructure with multi-tenancy built
| Feature | Authgear | ZITADEL |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 86 · Excellent | 95 · Excellent |
| Category | Identity & SSO | Identity & SSO |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Go | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker, kubernetes | docker, kubernetes, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 2,065 | ★ 15,083 |
| First released | 2021 | 2020 |
| Replaces | Auth0, Firebase Auth | Auth0, Okta, Firebase Auth |
What are Authgear and ZITADEL?
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
ZITADEL
ZITADEL is an open-source identity and access management platform built for multi-tenant applications. It offers OpenID Connect, OAuth2, SAML, passwordless login and a powerful management API.
- Multi-tenancy as a first-class concept
- Passwordless and FIDO2 authentication
- Event-sourced audit trail
- Comprehensive gRPC and REST APIs
Authgear vs ZITADEL: key differences
Both projects are written in Go. ZITADEL is the lighter option, starting around 512 MB of RAM against 1,024 MB for Authgear. ZITADEL has the considerably larger community, at 15,083 GitHub stars versus 2,065.
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 ZITADEL if…
- Strong multi-tenant model
- Modern Go codebase
Watch out for
- Smaller community than Keycloak
Frequently asked questions
Is Authgear or ZITADEL better?
ZITADEL is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler medium setup. Consider Authgear if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Authgear and ZITADEL free and open-source?
Yes. Authgear is licensed under Apache-2.0 and ZITADEL under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Authgear and ZITADEL with Docker?
Authgear: yes. ZITADEL: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Authgear or ZITADEL?
ZITADEL has the smaller minimum footprint at 512 MB of RAM, compared to about 1,024 MB for Authgear. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.