SHSelfHostIndex

Zentral vs ZITADEL

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?
ZE Zentral Endpoint identity, configuration and compliance platform VS ZI ZITADEL Cloud-native identity infrastructure with multi-tenancy built in
FeatureZentralZITADEL
CategoryIdentity & SSOIdentity & SSO
LicenseApache-2.0Apache-2.0
LanguagePythonGo
Setup difficultyHardMedium
Min. RAM2,048 MB512 MB
Deploymentdockerdocker, kubernetes, binary
GitHub stars★ 875★ 14,671
First released20162020
ReplacesJamf, KandjiAuth0, Okta, Firebase Auth

Why pick each one

Choose Zentral if…

  • Released under the Apache-2.0 license
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • Written in Python
Zentral details

Choose ZITADEL if…

  • Strong multi-tenant model
  • Modern Go codebase
ZITADEL details

Frequently asked questions

Is Zentral or ZITADEL better?

ZITADEL is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler medium setup. Consider Zentral if its specific feature set fits your needs better.

Are Zentral and ZITADEL free and open-source?

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

Can I run Zentral and ZITADEL with Docker?

Zentral: yes. ZITADEL: yes.

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