Ory Kratos vs Rauthy
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted identity & sso options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Rauthy
Lightweight OpenID Connect provider written in Rust
| Feature | Ory Kratos | Rauthy |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 89 · Excellent | 84 · Excellent |
| Category | Identity & SSO | Identity & SSO |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Go | Rust |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | docker, kubernetes, binary | docker, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 13,888 | ★ 1,339 |
| First released | 2020 | 2023 |
| Replaces | Auth0, Firebase Auth | Keycloak, Auth0 |
What are Ory Kratos and Rauthy?
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
Rauthy
Rauthy is an open-source, security-focused OpenID Connect provider and single sign-on solution written in Rust. It is designed to be lightweight and fully self-hosted with minimal resource usage.
- Lightweight OIDC provider
- Passkey support
- Low memory footprint
- Single binary option
Ory Kratos vs Rauthy: key differences
Ory Kratos is written in Go, while Rauthy is built with Rust. Rauthy is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 256 MB for Ory Kratos. Ory Kratos is the more established project (first released 2020), while Rauthy arrived in 2023. Ory Kratos has the considerably larger community, at 13,888 GitHub stars versus 1,339.
Why pick each one
Choose Ory Kratos if…
- Extremely flexible architecture
- Excellent for custom frontends
Watch out for
- Requires building your own UI
- Complex initial setup
Choose Rauthy if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (1.3k GitHub stars)
- Written in Rust
Frequently asked questions
Is Ory Kratos or Rauthy better?
Neither is universally better. Ory Kratos has the larger community, while Rauthy is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Ory Kratos and Rauthy free and open-source?
Yes. Ory Kratos is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Rauthy under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Ory Kratos and Rauthy with Docker?
Ory Kratos: yes. Rauthy: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Ory Kratos or Rauthy?
Rauthy has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for Ory Kratos. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.