Kanidm vs ZITADEL
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted identity & sso options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Kanidm
Modern, simple and secure identity management server
VS
ZITADEL
Cloud-native identity infrastructure with multi-tenancy built
| Feature | Kanidm | ZITADEL |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 90 · Excellent | 95 · Excellent |
| Category | Identity & SSO | Identity & SSO |
| License | MPL-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Rust | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary | docker, kubernetes, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 5,404 | ★ 15,083 |
| First released | 2019 | 2020 |
| Replaces | Active Directory, Okta | Auth0, Okta, Firebase Auth |
What are Kanidm and ZITADEL?
Kanidm
Kanidm is an identity management platform written in Rust, focused on simplicity, security and correctness. It provides authentication for web applications, Unix systems and LDAP-aware services.
- OAuth2 and OpenID Connect provider
- Passkey-first authentication
- Unix and LDAP integration
- Strong security defaults
ZITADEL
ZITADEL is an open-source identity and access management platform built for multi-tenant applications. It offers OpenID Connect, OAuth2, SAML, passwordless login and a powerful management API.
- Multi-tenancy as a first-class concept
- Passwordless and FIDO2 authentication
- Event-sourced audit trail
- Comprehensive gRPC and REST APIs
Kanidm vs ZITADEL: key differences
Kanidm is written in Rust, while ZITADEL is built with Go. Licensing differs — MPL-2.0 for Kanidm versus Apache-2.0 for ZITADEL. Kanidm is the lighter option, starting around 256 MB of RAM against 512 MB for ZITADEL. ZITADEL has the considerably larger community, at 15,083 GitHub stars versus 5,404.
Why pick each one
Choose Kanidm if…
- Memory safe and lightweight
- Excellent passwordless support
Watch out for
- Smaller ecosystem and tooling
Choose ZITADEL if…
- Strong multi-tenant model
- Modern Go codebase
Watch out for
- Smaller community than Keycloak
Frequently asked questions
Is Kanidm or ZITADEL better?
Neither is universally better. ZITADEL has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Kanidm and ZITADEL free and open-source?
Yes. Kanidm is licensed under MPL-2.0 and ZITADEL under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Kanidm and ZITADEL with Docker?
Kanidm: yes. ZITADEL: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Kanidm or ZITADEL?
Kanidm has the smaller minimum footprint at 256 MB of RAM, compared to about 512 MB for ZITADEL. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.