Permify vs Warrant
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted identity & sso options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Permify | 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 | 512 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, kubernetes, binary | docker, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 5,956 | ★ 1,337 |
| First released | 2022 | 2022 |
| Replaces | Auth0 FGA, OpenFGA | Auth0 FGA |
What are Permify and Warrant?
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
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
Permify vs Warrant: key differences
Both projects are written in Go. Warrant is the lighter option, starting around 256 MB of RAM against 512 MB for Permify. Permify has the considerably larger community, at 5,956 GitHub stars versus 1,337.
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
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 Permify or Warrant better?
Neither is universally better. Permify has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Permify and Warrant free and open-source?
Yes. Permify is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Warrant under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Permify and Warrant with Docker?
Permify: yes. Warrant: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Permify or Warrant?
Warrant has the smaller minimum footprint at 256 MB of RAM, compared to about 512 MB for Permify. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.