cidaas

cidaas is an identity platform for customer-facing products and workforce access, with identity verification and policy-based authorization alongside authentication. It best suits teams that want those capabilities together and can choose among distinct plans for different identity workloads. Its breadth is a strength, but the separate billing models and user limits make careful plan matching essential.

Overview

For customer applications, cidaas covers authentication, authorization and user management; workforce IAM is aimed at employees, contractors and partners, with adaptive access policies and zero-trust security. AutoIdent adds document and identity checks, while cidaas Authorization handles real-time, policy-based decisions. This gives teams a route to consolidate several identity needs, but it is not one simple, uniform subscription: customer IAM, workforce IAM, validation and authorization each have different plans and charges.

Key features

Authentication includes single sign-on (SSO), passwordless authentication, multifactor authentication (MFA), access management and consent management. OAuth2, OpenID Connect and SAML support, plus JavaScript, Flutter and Swift SDKs and Typo3 and WordPress plugins, provide multiple integration paths. Active Directory and LDAP connect through an LDAP connector. The standards set also includes SCIM, webhooks, FAPI 2.0, federation and CIBA, useful for teams whose identity architecture depends on those protocols.

AutoIdent offers AI-based ID checks, face matching, liveness detection and fraud detection. Authorization includes RBAC, ABAC, Policy-as-Code and ReBAC. These extend cidaas beyond sign-in, though validation is charged per check and authorization by policy-decision usage, so those workloads need their own budget.

The platform is cloud-based and supports Android, iOS, web, Windows and API environments. The maker says it is developed and hosted in Germany, operates in Germany/EU, is GDPR-compliant and is ISO 27001 certified. Those are meaningful points for organizations weighing location and compliance requirements.

Pricing

Customer IAM has a free tier at no cost, with 500 registered users, core authentication functions and community support. It is a practical starting point, but the user cap and community-only support make it a limited fit for larger or support-sensitive deployments. STANDARD costs €1.40 a month, billed per month, and includes 5,000 users, advanced and step-up MFA, six applications and Silver support. PRO is €3 a month, billed per month, and raises the included user allowance to 1,000,000 while adding passwordless and Smart MFA, group management, progressive profiling, KRITIS-ready status and Gold support. The lower-cost tiers trade away some scale, features and support compared with PRO.

ESSENTIALS costs €699 a month, billed per month, for 1,000 users, SSO, MFA, webhooks, four applications and email support. ENTERPRISE has custom pricing, unlimited users, AD/LDAP integration, KRITIS-ready operation and Platinum support. Compared with the free and STANDARD tiers, ESSENTIALS offers a more defined paid bundle but fewer included users than STANDARD; ENTERPRISE is the option for unlimited scale and directory integration.

Workforce IAM is free for a maximum of 30 users, with all functions and community support. The free cap suits a small workforce, while the paid plan is for deployments needing more users and stronger support.

Authorization's OPA Plan costs €50 a month, billed based on actual policy-decision usage; RBAC, ABAC, Policy-as-Code and ReBAC are included in higher-tier plans. AutoIdent charges per validation plus basic fees: CARD VALIDATION is €150, paid once for automated ID-card checks, badge recognition and data reading, API or SDK integration, and fraud detection. IDENT VALIDATION is €250, paid once and adds face recognition and matching, liveness detection, real-time audit, fraud detection and document checks. These usage-based and per-validation charges are distinct from user-based IAM pricing.

A 30-day trial is offered. The free customer IAM and workforce IAM plans have different user caps and both include community support; the customer IAM free tier is described with a billed 30-day trial period, while the workforce tier is billed 30 days trial. Confirm the applicable terms before relying on either as an ongoing free allowance. The pricing note starts at $5.50 per user per month, while the individual plan prices above are in EUR.

Platforms

cidaas supports Android, iOS, web, Windows and API. Its stated cloud deployment makes it relevant to teams seeking a hosted service rather than a self-hosted deployment.

Who it's for

cidaas is strongest for organizations that need both customer and workforce identity, or that want verification and fine-grained authorization available alongside authentication. Its protocol support and directory connector suit teams integrating with established identity infrastructure. It is less compelling for buyers seeking one predictable charge across all workloads: user-based plans, policy-decision usage and per-validation fees require separate cost planning.

Pros and cons

• Pros: Customer IAM, workforce IAM, verification and policy-based authorization sit under one platform, which can consolidate several identity requirements.
• Pros: Protocol support, SDKs, plugins and an LDAP connector give teams several concrete integration options.
• Pros: Free customer and workforce tiers provide a way to start, with distinct caps of 500 registered users and 30 users.
• Cons: Pricing spans monthly, per-user, usage-based and per-validation charges, complicating total-cost comparisons.
• Cons: Free tiers cap users and provide community support, while higher support levels are tied to paid plans.
• Cons: The entry pricing note is in dollars, while plan prices are in euros, so buyers must compare the applicable offer and currency.

Alternatives

Choose FusionAuth if a freemium option with a self-hosted Community plan and core authentication features better fits your deployment preference. Consider Okta Customer Identity Cloud if you want its Essentials plan, priced at $35 a month for up to 500 monthly active users, 10 organizations and Standard Support. Google Cloud Identity is an alternative with a Premium annual/fixed-term plan at $6 a month that includes enterprise security features and automated user provisioning.

Ory is another freemium alternative, with a Developer tier and a Production plan at $770 a year. Supabase may suit buyers comparing a free tier that includes 50,000 monthly active users, a 500 MB database per project, 5 GB egress and 1 GB file storage. Authgear is worth considering if open-source software and self-hosting, migration or switching among OIDC-compliant providers are priorities. Authio Lobby has a free Developer plan for projects under 10,000 MAUs, with passwordless methods and no SSO or SCIM. Descope is another freemium option; its Free Forever plan includes 7,500 MAUs, 10 monthly active tenants and three SSO connections.

For focused comparisons, browse Passkey Authentication Software or Customer Identity and Access Management Software.

Verdict

Choose cidaas if your organization needs customer and workforce identity with verification or policy-based authorization close at hand, and its separate plans match your expected volumes. The combination of authentication, integration options and Germany/EU hosting is its central case. Look elsewhere if you need a single straightforward price across identity workloads or a self-hosted deployment.