Both are open-source identity platforms, but Keycloak is a fully free, self-hosted-only project with no managed cloud offering, while Zitadel is a freemium…
Best for Keycloak: Organizations wanting a completely free, self-hosted IAM platform with deep LDAP/Active Directory federation, and the operational capacity to run it themselves without paid vendor support.
Best for Zitadel: Teams wanting a managed or hybrid identity platform with a free tier up to 100 daily active users, hosted login pages, and formal SOC2/ISO27001/OpenID certifications, without operating the infrastructure themselves.
At a Glance
Keycloak
Zitadel
Primary category
Security
Security
Rating
Not documented
Not documented
Pricing model
Open Source
freemium
Starting price
Free
$0
Free plan
Not documented
Yes
Free trial
Not documented
Not documented
Platforms
Not documented
Not documented
Team collaboration
Not documented
Not documented
AI features
Not documented
Not documented
Public API
Yes
Yes
Key Differences
Hosting Model
Keycloak: Keycloak has no official managed cloud/hosted offering from the project itself; it must be self-hosted.
Zitadel: Zitadel offers a free-tier managed cloud service as well as self-hosted and custom Enterprise deployment options.
Teams without dedicated ops capacity may not be able to realistically run a self-hosted-only identity platform.
Pricing
Keycloak: Keycloak is entirely free and open source with no paid tiers.
Zitadel: Zitadel is freemium: free up to 100 daily active users, then $100/month for Pro (up to 25,000 DAU), with custom Enterprise pricing above that.
Zero licensing cost versus a usage-based subscription changes the long-term cost calculus as user counts grow.
Directory Federation
Keycloak: Keycloak explicitly supports user federation with existing LDAP or Active Directory directories.
Zitadel: Zitadel's documented features don't call out LDAP/AD federation specifically.
Enterprises with existing on-premises directories need federation to avoid duplicating user data.
Compliance Certifications
Keycloak: Keycloak does not document formal compliance certifications of the kind Zitadel lists.
Zitadel: Zitadel is ISO 27001 certified, SOC2 Type II certified, and OpenID certified, with data residency in the EU, US, Switzerland, and Australia.
Regulated industries often require documented third-party compliance certifications before adopting an identity vendor.
Governance and Support
Keycloak: Keycloak is a Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) incubating project with a community-driven model and no commercial vendor support included by default.
Zitadel: Zitadel is a commercial open-source company headquartered in San Francisco, offering paid SLAs (99.5% uptime on Pro, 99.99% on Enterprise).
Vendor-backed SLAs provide accountability that a purely community-governed project doesn't offer by default.
Feature-by-Feature
Deployment & Hosting
Feature
Keycloak
Zitadel
Official managed cloud offering
Unavailable
Available
Self-hosted deployment
Available
Available
Free to use
Available
Limited
Authentication & Directory
Feature
Keycloak
Zitadel
LDAP / Active Directory federation
Available
Not documented
Single sign-on
Available
Available
MFA / passwordless login
Not documented
Available
Social login
Available
Available
gRPC / REST APIs
Not documented
Available
Enterprise & Compliance
Feature
Keycloak
Zitadel
ISO 27001 / SOC2 / OpenID certification
Not documented
Available
Data residency options
Not documented
Available
Contractual uptime SLA
Unavailable
Available
Pricing Compared
Starting price reflects the lowest paid tier, not the full cost for every team size or usage level.
Keycloak
Open Source (Self-Hosted) — Free N/A
Red Hat build of Keycloak (Commercial Support) — Custom pricing Contact Red Hat
Zitadel
Free — $0 monthly
Pro — $100 monthly
Enterprise — Custom quote custom
Pros & Cons
Keycloak
Pros
Free and fully open-source with no per-user licensing fees
Full standards support (OIDC, OAuth 2.0, SAML 2.0) for broad interoperability
Native LDAP/Active Directory integration for enterprise environments
CNCF-incubated with vendor-neutral governance since 2023
Backed by an active community and optional Red Hat commercial support
Cons
Requires self-hosting and ongoing operational maintenance
Steeper learning curve than managed SaaS IAM providers
No official managed cloud offering directly from the Keycloak project
Admin console UX can feel dated compared to newer commercial competitors
Scaling to very high traffic requires careful infrastructure tuning
Zitadel
Pros
Open source with the option to self-host for full data control
Strong compliance posture, including SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001
Generous free tier for smaller projects and early-stage products
Purpose-built multi-tenancy for B2B SaaS applications
Modern authentication support, including passkeys and passwordless login
Cons
Pro plan daily active user limits may be restrictive for fast-growing consumer apps
Enterprise pricing is custom and not published, requiring a sales conversation
Self-hosting requires infrastructure and operational expertise
Smaller ecosystem and community size compared to larger identity providers like Auth0
Use Cases
Choose Keycloak: Organizations wanting a completely free, self-hosted IAM platform with deep LDAP/Active Directory federation, and the operational capacity to run it themselves without paid vendor support.
Choose Zitadel: Teams wanting a managed or hybrid identity platform with a free tier up to 100 daily active users, hosted login pages, and formal SOC2/ISO27001/OpenID certifications, without operating the infrastructure themselves.
Need both: An organization might run Keycloak internally for employee/workforce SSO tied to existing Active Directory infrastructure while adopting Zitadel for a separate customer-facing product that needs hosted login pages and a managed free tier to launch quickly.
Keycloak
Enterprise single sign-on — Organizations centralize login across internal and customer-facing applications using Keycloak's SSO capabilities.
API and microservices authorization — Development teams use Keycloak's OAuth 2.0 and fine-grained authorization to secure APIs and microservice-to-microservice calls.
Regulated or air-gapped deployments — Government agencies and regulated industries self-host Keycloak to keep identity data fully within their own infrastructure.
Zitadel
Customer authentication for SaaS applications — Adding secure login, multi-factor authentication, and passwordless options to a product without building identity infrastructure in-house.
B2B multi-tenant identity management — Managing separate organizations, projects, and permission structures for many business customers within one platform.
Regulated and enterprise identity infrastructure — Meeting compliance requirements such as GDPR, ISO 27001, and SOC 2 while controlling data residency through self-hosting or regional cloud options.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Keycloak completely free?
Yes, Keycloak is open-source software with no licensing cost.
Does Zitadel have a free tier?
Yes, Zitadel's free plan includes unlimited users and organizations up to 100 daily active users.
Does Keycloak offer a managed cloud version?
No, there is no official managed or hosted offering from the Keycloak project itself; it must be self-hosted.
Which platform supports LDAP or Active Directory federation?
Keycloak explicitly documents user federation with LDAP and Active Directory. Zitadel's feature list doesn't call out this specific capability.
Which platform has formal compliance certifications?
Zitadel is ISO 27001, SOC2 Type II, and OpenID certified. Keycloak doesn't document equivalent formal certifications.
What uptime SLA does each offer?
Zitadel offers a 99.5% uptime guarantee on Pro and 99.99% on Enterprise. Keycloak, as self-hosted open source, comes with no vendor SLA.