Keycloak vs ZITADEL
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
ZITADEL
Cloud-native identity infrastructure with multi-tenancy built
| Feature | Keycloak | ZITADEL |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 99 · Excellent | 95 · Excellent |
| Category | Identity & SSO | Identity & SSO |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Java | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker, kubernetes, bare-metal | docker, kubernetes, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 36,967 | ★ 15,083 |
| First released | 2014 | 2020 |
| Replaces | Okta, Auth0, Microsoft Entra ID | Auth0, Okta, Firebase Auth |
What are Keycloak and ZITADEL?
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
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
Keycloak vs ZITADEL: key differences
Keycloak is written in Java, while ZITADEL is built with Go. ZITADEL is the lighter option, starting around 512 MB of RAM against 1,024 MB for Keycloak. Keycloak is the more established project (first released 2014), while ZITADEL arrived in 2020. Keycloak has the considerably larger community, at 36,967 GitHub stars versus 15,083.
Why pick each one
Choose Keycloak if…
- Mature and battle-tested
- Strong enterprise feature set
Watch out for
- Steep learning curve
- Resource intensive
Choose ZITADEL if…
- Strong multi-tenant model
- Modern Go codebase
Watch out for
- Smaller community than Keycloak
Frequently asked questions
Is Keycloak or ZITADEL better?
Neither is universally better. Keycloak has the larger community, while ZITADEL is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Keycloak and ZITADEL free and open-source?
Yes. Keycloak is licensed under Apache-2.0 and ZITADEL under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Keycloak and ZITADEL with Docker?
Keycloak: yes. ZITADEL: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Keycloak or ZITADEL?
ZITADEL has the smaller minimum footprint at 512 MB of RAM, compared to about 1,024 MB for Keycloak. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.