OpenFGA vs Warrant
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted identity & sso options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
OpenFGA
High-performance fine-grained authorization engine
VS
Warrant
Open-source authorization service for fine-grained access
| Feature | OpenFGA | Warrant |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 90 · Excellent | 39 · At risk |
| Category | Identity & SSO | Identity & SSO |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Go | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, kubernetes, binary | docker, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 5,846 | ★ 1,337 |
| First released | 2022 | 2022 |
| Replaces | Auth0 FGA | Auth0 FGA |
What are OpenFGA and Warrant?
OpenFGA
OpenFGA is an open-source, CNCF authorization engine inspired by Google Zanzibar for relationship-based access control. It can be self-hosted to centralize fine-grained permission decisions for applications.
- Relationship-based access
- High-throughput checks
- Modeling language
- gRPC and HTTP APIs
Warrant
Warrant is an open-source, centralized authorization service for defining and enforcing fine-grained, relationship-based access control across applications. It is self-hosted with REST and SDK access.
- Relationship-based access control
- Centralized policy service
- REST API and SDKs
- Self-hostable
OpenFGA vs Warrant: key differences
Both projects are written in Go. OpenFGA has the considerably larger community, at 5,846 GitHub stars versus 1,337.
Why pick each one
Choose OpenFGA if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Kubernetes-ready with Helm charts available
- Mature project with 5.8k GitHub stars
Choose Warrant if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (1.3k GitHub stars)
- Written in Go
Frequently asked questions
Is OpenFGA or Warrant better?
Neither is universally better. OpenFGA has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are OpenFGA and Warrant free and open-source?
Yes. OpenFGA is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Warrant under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run OpenFGA and Warrant with Docker?
OpenFGA: yes. Warrant: yes.