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The right open-source identity solution depends on what you need to protect: employee accounts and single sign-on (SSO), customer accounts inside an application, access to web apps behind a proxy, or identities used by operating systems and network services. These eight projects overlap, but they are not interchangeable. Start with the identity problem and required integrations, then verify the exact features, license, and deployment path in the project’s current documentation.
Authentication vs. authorization: what are you choosing?
Authentication establishes who is signing in; authorization determines what that identity may access or do. An identity platform may handle both, but the depth and location of its authorization features vary. Some projects focus on letting users sign in to an application; others provide centralized policies for services, workforce SSO, or infrastructure.
Before comparing products, write down the users and systems involved. A consumer app, an employee portal, and a Linux fleet have different identity boundaries. A protocol appearing on a project’s feature list is only a starting point: check whether the product acts in the role your integration needs, which flows it supports, and whether the behavior fits your application.
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| Project | Good starting point when | Documented capabilities relevant to selection |
|---|---|---|
| Keycloak | You need a centralized identity platform with broad federation and protocol support. | SSO, identity brokering, LDAP and Active Directory federation, OIDC, OAuth 2.0, SAML, and fine-grained authorization services, according to the Keycloak project page. |
| authentik | You want an identity provider with flexible flows and SSO integrations. | OAuth2, SAML, LDAP, SCIM, administrator and user interfaces, and configurable login flows. Its documentation distinguishes the free open-source project from a source-available Enterprise version. |
| Ory | You prefer assembling identity services from separate components. | Kratos for user management, Hydra for OAuth2/OIDC, Keto for authorization, and Oathkeeper as an identity/access proxy, among other components. Core services are described as Apache-2 licensed; separate commercial and managed options are also offered. |
| Authelia | You need an authentication portal to protect web applications, commonly alongside a reverse proxy. | SSO, MFA, configurable access policies, OIDC, and documented passkey/WebAuthn support. The project states an Apache 2.0 license. |
| ZITADEL | You are evaluating a developer-oriented platform for applications with organization or tenant requirements. | SSO, MFA, passkeys, OIDC, SAML, SCIM, multi-tenancy, API access, audit events, and cloud and self-hosted paths are documented. |
| Logto | You are building a modern application or SaaS product. | Its documentation lists sign-in and sign-up, passkeys, enterprise SSO, MFA, RBAC, organization features, management APIs, and self-hosted open-source deployment. |
| Kanidm | Your identity requirements reach beyond application login into Linux or network services. | Documented scope includes WebAuthn/passkeys and OAuth2/OIDC as well as RADIUS, SSH key distribution, and an LDAP gateway. |
| Casdoor | You want a self-hosted identity provider with support for several protocols and authentication methods. | Its repository documents a web console and OAuth 2.0, OIDC, SAML, CAS, LDAP, SCIM, WebAuthn, and MFA. |
This is a capability map, not a security, performance, or ease-of-setup ranking. The projects’ official pages and documentation establish stated scope; they do not establish how a particular configuration will perform or whether it is suitable for your production environment.
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Which solution fits your project?
For centralized identity, federation, and protocol interoperability: Keycloak
Keycloak is a broad identity and access-management platform. Consider it when one central service needs to connect users and applications through SSO, identity brokering, or LDAP/Active Directory federation. Its project page describes support for OpenID Connect, OAuth 2.0, and SAML, and also describes fine-grained authorization services. Confirm the protocol role and integration details for each client rather than treating the protocol names as proof that a particular flow is supported exactly as you need.
For identity-provider flows and a clear edition boundary: authentik
authentik documents OAuth2, SAML, LDAP, and SCIM alongside flexible login flows and administrator and user interfaces. That makes it worth evaluating when you need an identity provider with varied integrations and control over the sign-in journey. Pay particular attention to edition: its documentation separates the free open-source project from a source-available Enterprise version with additional features and support. Check the current feature boundary before designing around an Enterprise capability.
For a composable identity stack: Ory
Ory is not one monolithic identity provider. Its components divide responsibilities: Kratos handles user management, Hydra handles OAuth2/OIDC, Keto handles authorization, and Oathkeeper acts as an identity/access proxy, with other components in the stack. This modularity can suit teams that want to choose and compose services, but it also means integration and operations are part of the decision. Map which services your design requires, how they exchange identity and policy information, and who will deploy, configure, update, monitor, and recover them. Ory describes its core services as Apache-2 licensed and also offers separately licensed and managed commercial options; verify the terms that apply to the components and service you plan to use.
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For access to web applications behind a proxy: Authelia
Authelia is framed around an authentication and authorization portal for SSO and MFA, commonly used with reverse proxies to protect web applications. It documents configurable access policies and OIDC, plus passkeys and WebAuthn. This is a useful fit to investigate for proxy-gated app access; do not assume that this focus makes it interchangeable with a full customer-identity platform for application registration, account management, and user lifecycle needs. Authelia states that it uses the Apache 2.0 license.
For developer-facing identity and multi-tenancy: ZITADEL
ZITADEL documents a broad set of application identity capabilities: SSO, MFA, passkeys, OIDC, SAML, SCIM, API access, audit events, and multi-tenancy. It has cloud and self-hosted paths, so compare the degree of infrastructure control you need with the responsibilities you can own. If your application models organizations or tenants, test whether its documented tenant boundaries, APIs, and authentication flows map to your application’s actual isolation and administration model.
For SaaS-oriented application identity: Logto
Logto’s documentation is aimed at modern applications and SaaS products, listing sign-in and sign-up, passkeys, enterprise SSO, MFA, RBAC, organization features, management APIs, and self-hosted open-source deployment. It belongs on a shortlist when application sign-in and organization features are central. Before committing, verify the exact feature and plan boundary for the deployment you intend to use; a feature being documented does not by itself establish that it is available in every edition or hosting plan.
For application and infrastructure identity: Kanidm
Kanidm’s scope extends past web login. Its documented features include WebAuthn/passkeys and OAuth2/OIDC, plus RADIUS, SSH key distribution, and an LDAP gateway. That combination makes it worth considering when the same identity environment must connect application access with Linux or network services. Validate the specific protocols, clients, and service workflows you rely on; a gateway or protocol being present does not guarantee compatibility with every directory consumer.
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For broad protocol coverage in a self-hosted provider: Casdoor
Casdoor describes itself as a self-hosted identity provider with a web console and support for OAuth 2.0, OIDC, SAML, CAS, LDAP, SCIM, WebAuthn, and MFA. Its breadth can be useful when a project has varied integrations, but breadth increases the importance of matching each required protocol and authentication flow to the actual application. Include configuration and deployment review in the evaluation rather than treating a protocol list as a security assessment.
How to narrow the shortlist
- Classify the audience and boundary. Decide whether the system serves employees, customers, web apps behind a proxy, or operating systems and network services. This quickly separates, for example, Authelia’s proxy-associated app-access focus from options designed for broader application identity or infrastructure roles.
- Make an integration checklist. List the required protocol and role for each connection: OIDC provider or client, SAML, LDAP, SCIM, CAS, or RADIUS. Add the specific application, directory, or service that must connect. Verify behavior and versions in the project documentation and with a small proof of concept.
- Define authorization where it belongs. Determine whether groups and built-in roles are enough, or whether access decisions need policy rules, relationships, or application-defined logic. Separate “the user signed in” from “the user may perform this operation.”
- Test the authentication journey. Evaluate the methods you actually plan to enable: passwords, MFA, passkeys/WebAuthn, social sign-in, enterprise federation, account recovery, and account management. Test recovery and enrollment as well as the normal successful login path.
- Choose self-hosted or managed deliberately. Self-hosting gives infrastructure control but leaves your team responsible for updates, secrets, monitoring, backup and recovery, availability, and incident response. Managed options can shift some operating work, but check plan boundaries and data-residency constraints.
- Check tenants, extension points, and license terms. Compare organization boundaries, tenant isolation, branding, APIs, SDKs, and custom flows with your data model. Read the license for the precise components and distinguish open-source code from source-available enterprise features, hosted service, support, and commercial extensions.
Passkeys and hardware security keys
Passkeys and WebAuthn are documented by several of these projects, including Authelia, ZITADEL, Logto, Kanidm, and Casdoor. A WebAuthn/FIDO2 security key can be one way to provide hardware-backed sign-in: Authelia’s project documentation explicitly identifies FIDO2 WebAuthn security keys and gives YubiKey as an example. A key is optional, not a universal requirement. Verify compatibility among the identity provider, client application, key model, and configured authentication flow before buying or standardizing on a particular device.
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Deployment, security, and maintenance checks
Authentication and authorization sit on a critical security boundary. A feature list or open-source license is not evidence that a deployment is secure by default. Before production, review the project’s current deployment and upgrade guidance and assign ownership for the operational work.
- Use TLS for relevant connections and protect secrets with an appropriate storage and rotation process.
- Plan updates, monitoring, backups, and recovery; practice restoring the service and its configuration.
- Test MFA enrollment, lost-factor recovery, account recovery, federation failure, and policy-denied access.
- Review how identities, groups, roles, tenants, and permissions are provisioned and removed, including what happens when a user leaves an organization.
- Check release cadence, supported versions, license text, support terms, and managed-service plan boundaries directly before adoption.
- Run a proof of concept against the integrations and threat model you actually have. The documented feature sets do not provide a version-by-version compatibility matrix or a comparative security audit.
Another tool for documenting identity flows
ScreenshotNeo is not an authentication or authorization provider, so it is not a substitute for any of the eight identity projects. If your adjacent task is capturing clean screenshots of sign-in screens, admin consoles, or other web pages for documentation, ScreenshotNeo is the alternative to try first: it accepts cookie/consent banners and removes more than 60 known consent platforms, newsletter popups, and chat widgets before capture, with each step switchable off. Bot checks/CAPTCHAs, blank pages, timeouts, failed loads, and cache hits cost nothing, and responses identify page verdict and billing status in headers. Its MCP server gives AI agents tools for screenshots, page information, and PDF capture.
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Adjacent option for application-integrated authentication
SuperTokens is another credible option if you narrow the problem specifically to authentication integrated into an application. Its documentation describes open-source self-hosting, SDK-based integration, session management, passwordless flows, social login, and passkeys. It is an adjacent candidate rather than one of the eight above; evaluate it using the same checks for required flows, operations, license, and project fit.
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Bottom line
Shortlist by identity boundary, not by a single “best” label: Keycloak for broad centralized identity and federation; authentik for flexible identity-provider flows; Ory for a composable set of services; Authelia for proxy-associated app access; ZITADEL or Logto for application and SaaS identity needs; Kanidm when infrastructure identity matters; and Casdoor when a self-hosted provider’s broad protocol coverage matches your integrations. Prove the exact flows and operational model before choosing.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I self-host an identity provider?
Several options here document self-hosted deployment paths, including Keycloak, authentik, Ory components, ZITADEL, Logto, Kanidm, and Casdoor. Check each project’s current deployment documentation and distinguish self-hosted code from any separately managed service.
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Is open-source identity software automatically secure?
No. Security depends on the chosen release, configuration, integrations, infrastructure, and ongoing operations. Review the project’s deployment and upgrade guidance and test it against your threat model.
Which option should I evaluate for application-integrated authentication?
Logto, ZITADEL, and SuperTokens are natural candidates to investigate for application-focused requirements, while the best fit depends on needed flows, tenancy, deployment, and edition boundaries.
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