What is the main difference between Cerbos and Keycloak?

Cerbos and Keycloak are both authorization & permissions tools but differ in their approach, features, and target audience. Compare their GitHub stats, technology stack, and community adoption to make the best choice.

Which is better: Cerbos or Keycloak?

The choice between Cerbos and Keycloak depends on your specific needs, technical requirements, and team preferences. Both are quality open source solutions with active communities.

Can I migrate from Cerbos to Keycloak?

Migration between Cerbos and Keycloak is possible but requires careful planning. Consider data export/import capabilities, feature parity, and potential workflow changes.

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Cerbos vs Keycloak

Learn how Cerbos and Keycloak differ in their key features, development activity, technology stack and community adoption, so you can decide which of these authorization & permissions tools is best for you.

Cerbos

A scalable authorization layer that provides fine-grained access control through externalized policies, enabling secure and flexible permissions management.

Visit Cerbos Read more

4,565stars+49(+1.1%)

Last 30 days

Last commit
8 hours ago
Repository age
5 years
Version
v0.55.0
License
Apache-2.0
Self-hosted
Yes
Repository
cerbos/cerbos

Keycloak

Comprehensive open source identity management solution offering single sign-on, social login, and fine-grained authorization for applications and services.

Visit Keycloak Read more

36,518stars+579(+1.6%)

Last 30 days

Last commit
5 hours ago
Repository age
13 years
Version
26.7.3
License
Apache-2.0
Self-hosted
Yes
Repository
keycloak/keycloak

Detailed Comparison

Keycloak appears to have several advantages over Cerbos, particularly in popularity, growth and maturity. Consider your specific needs regarding popularity, growth, activity, technology, maturity, licensing and features when making your decision.

Keycloak wins

Community & Popularity

Keycloak significantly outpaces Cerbos in community adoption with 36,518 stars compared to 4,565 stars on GitHub. This 8.0x difference suggests Keycloak has a much larger and more active community. In terms of developer contributions, Keycloak has 8,873 forks, indicating strong developer engagement.

Keycloak wins

Growth Momentum

Keycloak is growing faster, adding 579 stars in the last 30 days (+1.6%) against adding 49 stars for Cerbos (+1.1%). Keycloak is both larger and pulling further ahead.

Comparable

Development Activity

Both projects show recent activity, with Cerbos last updated 8 hours ago and Keycloak 5 hours ago.

Comparable

Technology Stack

Both tools share common technology foundations, being built with JavaScript, CSS, Bash, Python, Java. However, they differ in their additional technology choices: Cerbos uses Golang, Rust, PHP, Ruby, C# while Keycloak leverages Typescript, JSX, C.

Keycloak wins

Project Maturity

Keycloak has been in development longer, starting 13 years ago, compared to Cerbos which began 5 years ago. This 7.8-year head start suggests Keycloak may have more mature features and established processes.

Comparable

Licensing

Both projects use the Apache-2.0 license, providing identical terms for usage and distribution.

Comparable

Use Cases & Features

Both tools serve similar use cases in Authorization & Permissions. However, they also have distinct specializations: Cerbos also focuses on Application Security while Keycloak extends into Authentication & SSO.

Comparable