Authorizer vs Keycloak
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted identity & sso options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Keycloak
Open-source identity and access management for modern apps
| Feature | Authorizer | Keycloak |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 85 · Excellent | 99 · Excellent |
| Category | Identity & SSO | Identity & SSO |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Go | Java |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 1,024 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary | docker, kubernetes, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 2,007 | ★ 36,967 |
| First released | 2021 | 2014 |
| Replaces | Auth0, Firebase Authentication | Okta, Auth0, Microsoft Entra ID |
What are Authorizer and Keycloak?
Authorizer
Authorizer is a self-hosted authentication and authorization service that provides social login, email and OTP login, and roles through a GraphQL API. It ships with prebuilt login pages and SDKs.
- Social and email login
- GraphQL auth API
- Prebuilt login UI
- Role-based access control
Keycloak
Keycloak is an enterprise-grade identity and access management solution backed by Red Hat. It provides single sign-on, identity brokering, social login and fine-grained authorization for applications and services.
- SSO with OpenID Connect and SAML 2.0
- Identity brokering and social login
- User federation with LDAP and Active Directory
- Fine-grained authorization services
Authorizer vs Keycloak: key differences
Authorizer is written in Go, while Keycloak is built with Java. Authorizer is the lighter option, starting around 256 MB of RAM against 1,024 MB for Keycloak. Keycloak is the more established project (first released 2014), while Authorizer arrived in 2021. Keycloak has the considerably larger community, at 36,967 GitHub stars versus 2,007.
Why pick each one
Choose Authorizer if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (2k GitHub stars)
Choose Keycloak if…
- Mature and battle-tested
- Strong enterprise feature set
Watch out for
- Steep learning curve
- Resource intensive
Frequently asked questions
Is Authorizer or Keycloak better?
Neither is universally better. Keycloak has the larger community, while Authorizer is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Authorizer and Keycloak free and open-source?
Yes. Authorizer is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Keycloak under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Authorizer and Keycloak with Docker?
Authorizer: yes. Keycloak: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Authorizer or Keycloak?
Authorizer has the smaller minimum footprint at 256 MB of RAM, compared to about 1,024 MB for Keycloak. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.