Learn how Cerbos and Zitadel 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.
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Zitadel appears to have several advantages over Cerbos, particularly in popularity, maturity and features. Consider your specific needs regarding popularity, activity, technology, maturity, licensing and features when making your decision.
Zitadel significantly outpaces Cerbos in community adoption with 13,581 stars compared to 4,358 stars on GitHub. This 3.1x difference suggests Zitadel has a much larger and more active community. In terms of developer contributions, Zitadel has 1,035 forks, indicating strong developer engagement.
Both projects show recent activity, with Cerbos last updated 16 hours ago and Zitadel 23 hours ago.
Both tools share common technology foundations, being built with JavaScript, CSS, Bash, Golang. However, they differ in their additional technology choices: Cerbos uses Python, Rust, PHP, Java, Ruby, C# while Zitadel leverages Typescript, JSX, Next.js, SCSS, Lua.
Zitadel has been in development longer, starting 6 years ago, compared to Cerbos which began 5 years ago. This 1.0-year head start suggests Zitadel may have more mature features and established processes.
The projects use different licenses: Cerbos is licensed under Apache-2.0 while Zitadel uses AGPL-3.0. Consider the licensing requirements when choosing for your project.
Both tools serve similar use cases in Authorization & Permissions. However, they also have distinct specializations: Cerbos also focuses on Application Security while Zitadel extends into Authentication & SSO.
Zitadel provides self-hosting options for complete data control and customization, while Cerbos may be primarily cloud-based or require different deployment approaches.