SHSelfHostIndex

Permify vs SpiceDB

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?
PE Permify Open-source authorization service for fine-grained access VS SP SpiceDB Open-source Zanzibar-inspired permissions database
FeaturePermifySpiceDB
Deploy effortUnder-an-hour setupUnder-an-hour setup
Health score90 · Excellent91 · Excellent
CategoryIdentity & SSOIdentity & SSO
LicenseApache-2.0Apache-2.0
LanguageGoGo
Setup difficultyMediumHard
Min. RAM512 MB512 MB
Deploymentdocker, kubernetes, binarydocker, kubernetes, binary
GitHub stars★ 5,956★ 7,086
First released20222021
ReplacesAuth0 FGA, OpenFGAAuth0 FGA, OpenFGA

What are Permify and SpiceDB?

Permify

Permify is an open-source authorization service inspired by Google Zanzibar for building and managing fine-grained, scalable access control. It is self-hosted to centralize permission checks.

  • Zanzibar-style model
  • Centralized permissions
  • Real-time consistency
  • gRPC and REST APIs

SpiceDB

SpiceDB is an open-source database system for managing security-critical application permissions inspired by Google Zanzibar. It is self-hosted to provide consistent, fine-grained authorization at scale.

  • Zanzibar-inspired model
  • Consistency guarantees
  • Schema language
  • Horizontal scaling

Permify vs SpiceDB: key differences

Both projects are written in Go.

Why pick each one

Choose Permify if…

  • Released under the Apache-2.0 license
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • Kubernetes-ready with Helm charts available
  • Mature project with 6k GitHub stars
Permify details

Choose SpiceDB if…

  • Released under the Apache-2.0 license
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • Kubernetes-ready with Helm charts available
  • Mature project with 7.1k GitHub stars
SpiceDB details

Frequently asked questions

Is Permify or SpiceDB better?

Neither is universally better. SpiceDB has the larger community, while Permify is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.

Are Permify and SpiceDB free and open-source?

Yes. Permify is licensed under Apache-2.0 and SpiceDB under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Permify and SpiceDB with Docker?

Permify: yes. SpiceDB: yes.

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