Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Cerbos VS Flagsmith

Compare Cerbos VS Flagsmith and see what are their differences

Cerbos logo Cerbos

Cerbos helps teams separate their authorization process from their core application code, making their authorization system more scalable, more secure and easier to change as the application evolves.

Flagsmith logo Flagsmith

Flagsmith lets you manage feature flags and remote config across web, mobile and server side applications. Deliver true Continuous Integration. Get builds out faster. Control who has access to new features. We're Open Source.
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  • Cerbos Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-08-21

Cerbos is a self-hosted, open source authorization layer that separates your authZ logic from your core application code.

Cerbos allows for swift and secure set up and modification of complex roles and permissions. Unlike traditional methods that require intricate code manipulation, Cerbos simplifies the process by making changes through configuration. This reduces risks associated with authZ changes, such as downtime or security incidents.

Cerbos' structure, independent from the app code, allows both business stakeholders and non-expert engineers to understand the permissions structure. A broader range of stakeholders can make changes to the authZ logic without needing extensive coding knowledge or risking the stability of the core application.

In an era where authZ logic is business logic, the ability to quickly adapt and scale this element is vital. Cerbos makes this possible, facilitating an agile response to new markets and customer needs while maintaining a mature product.

  • Flagsmith Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-10-23

Cerbos features and specs

No features have been listed yet.

Flagsmith features and specs

  • Feature Flags: Yes
  • Remote Config: Yes
  • A/B/X Testing & Optimization: Yes
  • Organization Management: Yes
  • Integrations: Yes

Cerbos videos

Cerbos - How It Works - Intro

Flagsmith videos

No Flagsmith videos yet. You could help us improve this page by suggesting one.

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Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Cerbos and Flagsmith)
Developer Tools
7 7%
93% 93
Security
100 100%
0% 0
Feature Flags
0 0%
100% 100
Identity And Access Management

Questions and Answers

As answered by people managing Cerbos and Flagsmith.

Which are the primary technologies used for building your product?

Cerbos's answer

  • Go
  • Protobuf
  • gRPC
  • CEL

What makes your product unique?

Cerbos's answer

Cerbos stands out in the crowded authorization landscape due to its innovative approach to managing roles and permissions. Unlike traditional systems that embed authorization logic within an application's core code, Cerbos introduces a standalone, self-hosted, stateless service, transforming intricate coding tasks into simpler configurations. This separation not only streamlines the authorization process but also reduces potential security risks and system bottlenecks.

Being open-source, Cerbos fosters a strong community backing, ensuring its evolution aligns with real-world developer needs. Its adaptability is evident in its support for multiple SDKs, YAML configuration, and dynamic context handling, which cater to a wide range of environments and use-cases. This flexibility is further enhanced by Cerbos Cloud, a premium solution offering advanced policy management tools.

Furthermore, Cerbos emphasizes transparency, allowing both technical and non-technical stakeholders to understand and modify the permissions structure. This democratization of authorization logic management reduces reliance on specialized coding expertise. Additionally, its commitment to robust security features, including audit logging and risk mitigation, ensures that businesses can trust Cerbos to safeguard their authorization processes.

In essence, Cerbos' unique blend of innovation, adaptability, community support, and security focus reshapes the way businesses approach and manage authorization, making it a game-changer in the field.

How would you describe your primary audience?

Cerbos's answer

Cerbos' primary audience is best described as forward-thinking engineering leaders at the helm of emerging startups, particularly within the FinTech and Software Development sectors. These leaders typically oversee small to medium-sized teams, with 5-20 engineers, in companies that have a workforce ranging from 0 to 100 employees. Their technological stack prominently features Kubernetes (k8s), indicating a modern and scalable infrastructure.

Financially, these companies are in their early growth stages, having secured funding between 0 to 10 million dollars, primarily in the Seed to Series A range. This suggests that they are in a phase of rapid expansion and are actively seeking solutions that can seamlessly scale with their growth.

The primary objectives of Cerbos’ users revolve around finding a reliable solution to their authorization challenges, ensuring that the chosen solution can be implemented without disruptions, and that it scales effortlessly as the company grows. In essence, the Cerbos champion is a visionary engineering leader, keen on adopting innovative solutions that align with their company's rapid growth trajectory.

What's the story behind your product?

Cerbos's answer

Cerbos, co-founded by Emre and Charith, emerged from a vision to revolutionize the way authorization is approached in modern, cloud-native applications. The duo recognized a persistent challenge in software development: the immense time and effort developers invest in crafting and continually updating custom permissions. This repetitive cycle not only consumes valuable time but also diverts attention from the core essence of product development.

Driven by this realization, Emre and Charith embarked on a mission with Cerbos: to make the implementation of access-control as seamless and painless as possible. Their goal was to eliminate the need for repeatedly writing and rewriting custom permissions implementations. Instead, they envisioned a world where developers could channel their energies and creativity into building outstanding products that resonate with and delight their customers.

Who are some of the biggest customers of your product?

Cerbos's answer

Why should a person choose your product over its competitors?

Cerbos's answer

A person should choose Cerbos over its competitors for several compelling reasons:

Innovative Design: Unlike many competitors, Cerbos separates the traditionally embedded authorization logic from the application's core code. This standalone, stateless service simplifies authorization changes, converting intricate coding tasks into straightforward configurations.

Open-Source Flexibility: Cerbos' open-source nature ensures continuous evolution based on real-world feedback. This community-driven approach ensures that the product remains relevant and adaptable to changing needs.

Transparency and Inclusivity: Cerbos' structure allows a broader range of stakeholders, both technical and non-technical, to understand and modify the permissions structure. This democratizes the authorization process, reducing the dependency on specialized coding expertise.

Robust Security: Cerbos places a strong emphasis on security, offering features like audit logging and risk mitigation. This commitment ensures businesses can trust Cerbos to maintain the integrity of their authorization processes.

Flexibility and Control: Cerbos provides complete control over its deployment, scaling, and monitoring. Unlike solutions that are solely cloud-based or hardcoded, Cerbos strikes a balance between flexibility, control, and security.

Clear Value Proposition: Cerbos offers straightforward pricing and a user-friendly approach, contrasting with competitors that may have complex pricing structures or less intuitive systems.

Community and Support: As an open-source project, Cerbos boasts a strong community backing, ensuring users have access to a wealth of knowledge and support.

In summary, Cerbos' unique blend of innovation, flexibility, transparency, and security makes it a superior choice in the authorization landscape.

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Cerbos and Flagsmith

Cerbos Reviews

We have no reviews of Cerbos yet.
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Flagsmith Reviews

The 8 best free and open-source feature flag services
BlogBackSign inBlogThe 8 best free and open-source feature flag servicesPosted byThe best open-source feature flag tools1. PostHogWhat is PostHog?Supported librariesHow much does it cost?2. UnleashWhat is Unleash?Supported SDKsHow much does it cost?3. GrowthBookWhat is GrowthBook?Supported SDKsHow much does it cost?4. FlagsmithWhat is Flagsmith?Supported SDKsHow much does it...
Source: posthog.com

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Flagsmith should be more popular than Cerbos. It has been mentiond 13 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Cerbos mentions (5)

  • Nuxt authorization: How to implement fine-grained access control
    In this tutorial you will learn how to use Cerbos to add fine-grained access control to any Nuxt web application, simplifying authorization as a result. - Source: dev.to / 5 months ago
  • 🖌️⚙️ Innovate Like Da Vinci: Blending Art and Science in Software Development
    In my work with Cerbos, I apply the lessons learned from Da Vinci to tackle authorization challenges. Our approach is to create solutions where functionality seamlessly integrates with developer experience. Constantly iterating and viewing the tools through the users' lens, helps ensure that our access control solutions are robust and dev-friendly. - Source: dev.to / 6 months ago
  • Feedback needed: Cerbos Hub is now in public beta!
    Hello fellow devs! I'm with Cerbos (https://cerbos.dev/), a tool designed to manage who can do what in your software applications. - Source: dev.to / 7 months ago
  • Show HN: Cerbos Hub – Implement roles and permissions in your app in minutes
    Hello HN! I'm on the DevRel team at Cerbos (https://cerbos.dev/), a tool designed to manage who can do what in your software applications. For a couple of years now, Open Worldwide Application Security Project (OWASP) is naming authorization a top 10 API security risk: https://owasp.org/API-Security/editions/2023/en/0x11-t10/ We are thrilled to announce that Cerbos Hub is now in public beta! - Source: Hacker News / 7 months ago
  • PHP + Cerbos: Revolutionizing Authorization in Laravel applications
    Learn more at: https://cerbos.dev/. Source: 9 months ago

Flagsmith mentions (13)

  • Why use Open Source Feature Flags?
    Considering all these points, the team at Flagsmith has developed a feature flag management platform Flagsmith and made it open source. The core functionality is open and you can check out the GitHub repository here. I have utilized and authored several blogs discussing their excellent offerings and strategies. - Source: dev.to / about 2 months ago
  • free-for.dev
    Flagsmith - Release features with confidence; manage feature flags across web, mobile, and server side applications. Use our hosted API, deploy to your own private cloud, or run on-premise. - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
  • Which startups are made using Django?
    Flagsmith is written in Django and is open source as well: https://flagsmith.com. Source: almost 2 years ago
  • The actual infrastructure costs of running SaaS at scale (billions of requests/month)
    Before we dive in, one important call-out: We provide our feature management product to customers in three ways depending on how they want to have it managed: Fully Managed SaaS API, Fully Managed Private Cloud SaaS API and Self-Hosted. The infrastructure costs that we are sharing is for our customers that leverage our Fully Managed SaaS API offering (try it free: https://flagsmith.com/) which represents a portion... - Source: dev.to / about 2 years ago
  • The Story Behind Our Open Source Ecommerce Platform with +9,000 GH stars in 6 months
    On March 15th, Sebastian Rindom, the CEO & Co-founder of Medusa, did an interview with Flagsmith where he talked about how Medusa started, why create a headless commerce solution, why make it open-source, and more. - Source: dev.to / about 2 years ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing Cerbos and Flagsmith, you can also consider the following products

authzed - The platform to store, compute, and validate app permissions

LaunchDarkly - LaunchDarkly is a powerful development tool which allows software developers to roll out updates and new features.

Oso - A batteries-included system for authorization.

ConfigCat - ConfigCat is a developer-centric feature flag service with unlimited team size, awesome support, and a reasonable price tag.

Aserto - Fine-grained, scalable authorization in minutes

Unleash - Open source Feature toggle/flag service. Helps developers decrease their time-to-market and to increase learning through experimentation.