Keycloak vs Pocket ID
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted identity & sso options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Keycloak
Open-source identity and access management for modern apps
VS
Pocket ID
Simple OIDC provider that uses only passkeys
| Feature | Keycloak | Pocket ID |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | ≈5-minute setup |
| Health score | 99 · Excellent | 92 · Excellent |
| Category | Identity & SSO | Identity & SSO |
| License | Apache-2.0 | BSD-2-Clause |
| Language | Java | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | docker, kubernetes, bare-metal | docker |
| GitHub stars | ★ 36,967 | ★ 9,266 |
| First released | 2014 | 2024 |
| Replaces | Okta, Auth0, Microsoft Entra ID | Auth0, Authelia |
What are Keycloak and Pocket ID?
Keycloak
Keycloak is an enterprise-grade identity and access management solution backed by Red Hat. It provides single sign-on, identity brokering, social login and fine-grained authorization for applications and services.
- SSO with OpenID Connect and SAML 2.0
- Identity brokering and social login
- User federation with LDAP and Active Directory
- Fine-grained authorization services
Pocket ID
Pocket ID is an open-source, simple OpenID Connect provider that authenticates users exclusively with passkeys. It is self-hosted to add passwordless SSO to applications with minimal configuration.
- Passkey-only authentication
- Simple OIDC provider
- Minimal configuration
- Lightweight
Keycloak vs Pocket ID: key differences
Keycloak is written in Java, while Pocket ID is built with Go. Licensing differs — Apache-2.0 for Keycloak versus BSD-2-Clause for Pocket ID. Pocket ID is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 1,024 MB for Keycloak. Keycloak is the more established project (first released 2014), while Pocket ID arrived in 2024. Keycloak has the considerably larger community, at 36,967 GitHub stars versus 9,266.
Why pick each one
Choose Keycloak if…
- Mature and battle-tested
- Strong enterprise feature set
Watch out for
- Steep learning curve
- Resource intensive
Choose Pocket ID if…
- Released under the BSD-2-Clause license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 9.3k GitHub stars
Frequently asked questions
Is Keycloak or Pocket ID better?
Neither is universally better. Keycloak has the larger community, while Pocket ID is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Keycloak and Pocket ID free and open-source?
Yes. Keycloak is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Pocket ID under BSD-2-Clause. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Keycloak and Pocket ID with Docker?
Keycloak: yes. Pocket ID: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Keycloak or Pocket ID?
Pocket ID has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 1,024 MB for Keycloak. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.