SHSelfHostIndex

WSO2 Identity Server 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.

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WS WSO2 Identity Server Open-source identity and access management server VS OR Ory Kratos Headless identity and user management API server
FeatureWSO2 Identity ServerOry Kratos
CategoryIdentity & SSOIdentity & SSO
LicenseApache-2.0Apache-2.0
LanguageJavaGo
Setup difficultyHardHard
Min. RAM4,096 MB256 MB
Deploymentdocker, kubernetes, bare-metaldocker, kubernetes, binary
GitHub stars★ 870★ 13,815
First released20072020
ReplacesOkta, ForgeRockAuth0, Firebase Auth

Why pick each one

Choose WSO2 Identity Server if…

  • Enterprise feature set
  • Strong standards coverage
WSO2 Identity Server details

Choose Ory Kratos if…

  • Extremely flexible architecture
  • Excellent for custom frontends
Ory Kratos details

Frequently asked questions

Is WSO2 Identity Server 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 WSO2 Identity Server and Ory Kratos free and open-source?

Yes. WSO2 Identity Server 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 WSO2 Identity Server and Ory Kratos with Docker?

WSO2 Identity Server: yes. Ory Kratos: yes.

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