Keycloak
Open source identity and access management for modern applications
Founded
2014
Starting Price
$0
Category
Security & IT
Last updated April 27, 2026
About Keycloak
Keycloak is an open-source identity and access management solution maintained by Red Hat. It provides single sign-on, user federation, identity brokering, and social login capabilities out of the box, supporting OpenID Connect, OAuth 2.0, and SAML 2.0 protocols.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Completely free and open source with no licensing costs, ideal for large user bases
- Comprehensive protocol support including OpenID Connect, OAuth 2.0, and SAML 2.0
- Highly extensible via Service Provider Interfaces (SPIs) for custom authentication and user storage
- Full control over data and deployment with self-hosted architecture
- Active community and backed by Red Hat with regular releases
Key Features
Single Sign-On (SSO)
Users authenticate once and gain access to multiple applications without re-entering credentials
Identity Brokering
Federate authentication with external OpenID Connect or SAML identity providers and map attributes
User Federation
Synchronize users from LDAP and Active Directory servers, with extensible SPI for custom user stores
Social Login
Built-in support for Google, GitHub, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Microsoft, and more social providers
Fine-Grained Authorization
Define and manage detailed authorization policies and permissions from the admin console
Admin Console
Centralized web-based console to manage realms, users, roles, clients, and sessions
Standard Protocols
Full support for OpenID Connect, OAuth 2.0, and SAML 2.0 protocols
Pricing
Open Source
$0
- Full feature set
- Self-hosted deployment
- Community support
- All protocols (OIDC, OAuth 2.0, SAML)
- Admin console
Best For
Enterprise SSO
Implement single sign-on across internal and external applications for seamless employee and customer access
API Security
Secure microservices and REST APIs with OAuth 2.0 token-based authentication and fine-grained authorization
Multi-Tenant SaaS
Provide isolated identity management per tenant using Keycloak realms with custom branding
Legacy System Integration
Bridge modern authentication standards with legacy LDAP or Active Directory infrastructure
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#1
6 Best Open-Source Authentication Solutions for Modern Apps (2026)
Best for enterprise teams that need the most complete open-source IAM platform with SSO, SAML, LDAP federation, and multi-tenancy — powerful but operationally demanding
#5
Best Identity Providers for Social Login Customization (2026)
Best for teams with platform engineering capacity who want maximum customization and zero per-user cost.
