Janssen Project 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?
Janssen Project
Cloud-native identity and access management platform
VS
Ory Kratos
Headless identity and user management API server
| Feature | Janssen Project | Ory Kratos |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Identity & SSO | Identity & SSO |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Java | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 4,096 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | kubernetes, helm | docker, kubernetes, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 646 | ★ 13,815 |
| First released | 2020 | 2020 |
| Replaces | Okta, Auth0 | Auth0, Firebase Auth |
Why pick each one
Choose Ory Kratos if…
- Extremely flexible architecture
- Excellent for custom frontends
Frequently asked questions
Is Janssen Project 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 Janssen Project and Ory Kratos free and open-source?
Yes. Janssen Project 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 Janssen Project and Ory Kratos with Docker?
Janssen Project: check the project docs for container support. Ory Kratos: yes.