Logto 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.
Logto
Developer-friendly authentication and authorization platform
VS
Ory Kratos
Headless identity and user management API server
| Feature | Logto | Ory Kratos |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 94 · Excellent | 89 · Excellent |
| Category | Identity & SSO | Identity & SSO |
| License | MPL-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | TypeScript | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, kubernetes, binary | docker, kubernetes, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 14,621 | ★ 13,888 |
| First released | 2022 | 2020 |
| Replaces | Auth0, Firebase Auth, Clerk | Auth0, Firebase Auth |
What are Logto and Ory Kratos?
Logto
Logto is an open-source identity solution built for developers, offering passwordless sign-in, social login and enterprise SSO. It provides prebuilt sign-in experiences and SDKs for many frameworks.
- Prebuilt customizable sign-in experiences
- Passwordless and social authentication
- Multi-framework SDKs
- Role-based access control
Ory Kratos
Ory Kratos is an API-first identity and user management system. It handles login, registration, profile management, account recovery and multi-factor authentication without prescribing a user interface.
- Headless API for full UI control
- Self-service flows for login and recovery
- Pluggable MFA including TOTP and WebAuthn
- Cloud-native and stateless design
Logto vs Ory Kratos: key differences
Logto is written in TypeScript, while Ory Kratos is built with Go. Licensing differs — MPL-2.0 for Logto versus Apache-2.0 for Ory Kratos. Ory Kratos is the lighter option, starting around 256 MB of RAM against 512 MB for Logto. Ory Kratos is the more established project (first released 2020), while Logto arrived in 2022.
Why pick each one
Choose Logto if…
- Great developer experience
- Modern UI and SDKs
Watch out for
- Younger project with evolving APIs
Choose Ory Kratos if…
- Extremely flexible architecture
- Excellent for custom frontends
Watch out for
- Requires building your own UI
- Complex initial setup
Frequently asked questions
Is Logto or Ory Kratos better?
Logto is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler medium setup. Consider Ory Kratos if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Logto and Ory Kratos free and open-source?
Yes. Logto is licensed under MPL-2.0 and Ory Kratos under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Logto and Ory Kratos with Docker?
Logto: yes. Ory Kratos: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Logto or Ory Kratos?
Ory Kratos has the smaller minimum footprint at 256 MB of RAM, compared to about 512 MB for Logto. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.