OpenUnison 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.
Not the right match-up?
OpenUnison
Identity management and SSO portal for Kubernetes
VS
Ory Kratos
Headless identity and user management API server
| Feature | OpenUnison | Ory Kratos |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Identity & SSO | Identity & SSO |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Less | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | kubernetes, helm | docker, kubernetes, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 136 | ★ 13,815 |
| First released | 2018 | 2020 |
| Replaces | Okta | Auth0, Firebase Auth |
Why pick each one
Choose OpenUnison if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- Kubernetes-ready with Helm charts available
- Written in Less
Choose Ory Kratos if…
- Extremely flexible architecture
- Excellent for custom frontends
Frequently asked questions
Is OpenUnison or Ory Kratos better?
Neither is universally better. Ory Kratos has the larger community; both share a hard setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are OpenUnison and Ory Kratos free and open-source?
Yes. OpenUnison is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Ory Kratos under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run OpenUnison and Ory Kratos with Docker?
OpenUnison: check the project docs for container support. Ory Kratos: yes.