Casbin vs Keycloak
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?
Casbin
Authorization library supporting many access control models
VS
Keycloak
Open-source identity and access management for modern apps
| Feature | Casbin | Keycloak |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Identity & SSO | Identity & SSO |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Go | Java |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 1,024 MB |
| Deployment | source | docker, kubernetes, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 20,311 | ★ 36,058 |
| First released | 2017 | 2014 |
| Replaces | Auth0 RBAC | Okta, Auth0, Microsoft Entra ID |
Why pick each one
Choose Casbin if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- Mature project with 20.3k GitHub stars
- Written in Go
- Tiny footprint — runs in 128 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Casbin or Keycloak better?
Neither is universally better. Keycloak has the larger community, while Casbin is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Casbin and Keycloak free and open-source?
Yes. Casbin is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Keycloak under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Casbin and Keycloak with Docker?
Casbin: check the project docs for container support. Keycloak: yes.