Boundary 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.
Not the right match-up?
Boundary
Identity-based secure access to systems and services
VS
Ory Kratos
Headless identity and user management API server
| Feature | Boundary | Ory Kratos |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Identity & SSO | Identity & SSO |
| License | BUSL-1.1 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Go | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary | docker, kubernetes, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 4,055 | ★ 13,815 |
| First released | 2020 | 2020 |
| Replaces | Teleport, StrongDM | Auth0, Firebase Auth |
Why pick each one
Choose Boundary if…
- Released under the BUSL-1.1 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (4.1k GitHub stars)
- Written in Go
Choose Ory Kratos if…
- Extremely flexible architecture
- Excellent for custom frontends
Frequently asked questions
Is Boundary or Ory Kratos better?
Neither is universally better. Ory Kratos has the larger community, while Boundary is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Boundary and Ory Kratos free and open-source?
Yes. Boundary is licensed under BUSL-1.1 and Ory Kratos under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Boundary and Ory Kratos with Docker?
Boundary: yes. Ory Kratos: yes.