Keycloak vs ORY Kratos: What are the differences?

Introduction

Keycloak and ORY Kratos are two powerful open-source identity and access management (IAM) solutions. Both provide features to authenticate, authorize, and manage user identities within a system. However, there are some key differences between them that make them suitable for different use cases. Below are the key differences between Keycloak and ORY Kratos.

1. Authentication Options: Keycloak offers a wide range of authentication options out of the box, including username and password, social logins (such as Google, Facebook), multi-factor authentication (MFA), and more. On the other hand, ORY Kratos focuses more on standardized protocols like OAuth2 and OpenID Connect and doesn't have the same breadth of authentication options as Keycloak.

2. User Registration and Self-Service: Keycloak provides a comprehensive user registration and self-service feature set, which includes customizable registration forms, password reset, email verification, and user profile management. ORY Kratos, on the other hand, focuses on providing a lightweight, API-driven approach, and does not have the same level of built-in user registration and self-service functionality as Keycloak.

3. Scalability: Keycloak has been designed with scalability in mind and can handle large user bases and high traffic loads. It offers clustering and load balancing capabilities, making it suitable for enterprise-grade deployments. ORY Kratos, while also scalable, is designed to be lightweight and optimized for smaller deployments. It may not be as suitable for handling extremely high loads or massive user bases as Keycloak.

4. Supported Identity Protocols: Keycloak supports a wide range of identity protocols such as SAML, OAuth2, OpenID Connect, and LDAP. It provides seamless integration with various identity providers and can act as an identity broker. ORY Kratos, on the other hand, primarily focuses on OAuth2 and OpenID Connect, with limited support for other protocols. It does not have the same level of flexibility and extensibility as Keycloak when it comes to identity protocol support.

5. Administration and Management: Keycloak provides a web-based administration console that offers a rich set of features for managing users, roles, permissions, and other IAM functionalities. It also provides fine-grained access control and customizable user workflows. ORY Kratos, being more API-driven, does not have a graphical user interface (GUI) for administration and management. It requires interacting with its API directly, which may require additional development effort.

6. Community and Ecosystem: Keycloak has a large and active community of contributors and users, making it easier to find resources, support, and plugins/extensions. It also has a well-established ecosystem with numerous integrations in various domains. ORY Kratos, being a relatively newer project, has a smaller community and ecosystem in comparison. It may have a more limited set of integrations and community-driven resources available.

In summary, Keycloak offers a broader range of authentication options, extensive user registration and self-service features, better scalability for enterprise-grade deployments, support for various identity protocols, a user-friendly administration console, and a larger community and ecosystem. ORY Kratos, on the other hand, focuses on standardized protocols, provides a lightweight API-driven approach, and may be more suitable for smaller deployments with specific needs.