Keycloak is a security & identity tool for Enterprise and Developers, offered as open source. Founded in United States in 2014. Popular alternatives include Okta.
About Keycloak
Keycloak is an open-source identity and access management server, originally created by Red Hat and now a Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) incubating project under the Apache 2.0 license. It provides single sign-on for web and mobile applications and APIs using the standard OpenID Connect, OAuth 2.0 and SAML 2.0 protocols, and it runs on your own infrastructure.
Its feature set matches commercial identity products: user federation with LDAP and Active Directory, identity brokering with social logins and external identity providers, multi-factor authentication with OTP and WebAuthn, password policies, fine-grained authorization services, realms for multi-tenancy, an admin console and a self-service account console. Login pages and emails can be themed, and extensions are written in Java through service provider interfaces. The software is free; Red Hat sells a supported distribution, the Red Hat build of Keycloak, for organizations that need commercial support.
Keycloak fits enterprises, public institutions and B2B software vendors that need to keep identity data under their own control, for example for data residency or regulatory reasons. The trade-off is operational: running it in high availability, tuning databases and caches, upgrading between major versions and customizing themes require expertise. Startups that want hosted authentication with polished UI components usually choose Auth0, Clerk or WorkOS, while Authentik and Zitadel are newer open-source alternatives with lighter operations.
Key features of Keycloak
- SSO via OIDC and SAML
- User federation with LDAP/AD
- Identity brokering and social login
- MFA and password policies
- Fine-grained authorization
- Admin and account consoles
Pros and cons
Pros
- Free and open source
- Enterprise-grade features
- Full control over identity data
- Large community
Cons
- Operationally complex
- UI and theming are dated
- Upgrades require care
- Scaling needs expertise
Keycloak pricing
Keycloak uses a open source model.
| Plan | Price | Includes |
|---|---|---|
| Open source | $0 | Apache 2.0, self-hosted |
| Red Hat build | Custom | Commercial support subscription |
Source: www.keycloak.org · checked on Oct 20, 2026
How Keycloak compares in Security & identity
- Rank by votes
- #1 / 24
- Starting price
- $0
- Free alternatives
- 3
0 votes from members
Category median is $8/mo
Free or open-source tools in Security & identity
Keycloak ranks #1 of 24 security & identity tools by community votes and is not directly comparable on price.
Common use cases
- 1Enterprise SSO across internal apps
- 2Government identity with data sovereignty
- 3B2B SaaS self-hosting auth
- 4Federating Active Directory to web apps
Best for
Organizations needing self-hosted enterprise IAM.
Not ideal for
Startups wanting simple hosted auth (Clerk, Auth0).
Integrations
- OIDC
- SAML
- LDAP
- Active Directory
- Kubernetes
- Spring
- Quarkus
- Any OAuth app
Our take
Keycloak is the open-source IAM workhorse; plan for operations.
FAQ
- What is Keycloak?
- Keycloak is a Security & identity tool: Open-source identity and access management.
- How much does Keycloak cost?
- Keycloak is Open source; there is no mandatory paid plan.
- What are the best alternatives to Keycloak?
- Community-listed alternatives to Keycloak include Okta.
- What does Keycloak integrate with?
- Keycloak integrates with OIDC, SAML, LDAP, Active Directory, Kubernetes, Spring and more.
- Which platforms does Keycloak support?
- Keycloak is available on web.
- Who is Keycloak for?
- Organizations needing self-hosted enterprise IAM.
Alternatives to Keycloak
Okta
▲ 0Enterprise identity platform for SSO, MFA and user lifecycle
Paid · $6EnterpriseSmall businesses
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