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Keycloak VS OAuth

Compare Keycloak VS OAuth and see what are their differences

Keycloak logo Keycloak

Open Source Identity and Access Management for modern Applications and Services.

OAuth logo OAuth

OAuth is an open standard for authorization. It allows users to share their private resources (e.g.
  • Keycloak Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-03-20
  • OAuth Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-06-19

Keycloak features and specs

  • Open-Source
    Keycloak is an open-source identity and access management solution, which means it is free to use and has a community-driven support system. This can lead to lower costs and more flexibility compared to proprietary solutions.
  • Feature-Rich
    Keycloak offers a comprehensive set of features including single sign-on (SSO), multi-factor authentication (MFA), user federation, identity brokering, and social login. This makes it suitable for a wide range of use cases.
  • Customizability
    With Keycloak, you can customize the authentication and authorization processes through its extensible architecture, allowing for the addition of custom features and integrations.
  • Integration Capability
    Keycloak supports integration with various protocols such as OAuth 2.0, OpenID Connect, and SAML, making it versatile for integrating with different platforms and services.
  • Active Community
    Keycloak has an active and growing community of developers and users who contribute to its improvement and provide support, resources, and shared knowledge.

Possible disadvantages of Keycloak

  • Complexity
    Keycloak can be complex to set up and configure, especially for users who are not familiar with identity and access management concepts. This may require additional time and expertise.
  • Resource-Intensive
    Running Keycloak can be resource-intensive, requiring more CPU and memory compared to simpler authentication solutions. This may necessitate higher infrastructure costs.
  • Learning Curve
    The learning curve for Keycloak can be steep for new users due to its wide range of features and configuration options. Ample time might be required to fully understand and utilize its capabilities.
  • Documentation Quality
    While Keycloak has extensive documentation, some users find it to be insufficiently detailed or difficult to navigate, which can impede the setup and troubleshooting process.
  • Maintenance
    Operating a Keycloak instance involves ongoing maintenance tasks such as updates, security patches, and backups, which can be time-consuming and require dedicated resources.

OAuth features and specs

  • Delegated Authorization
    OAuth allows users to grant applications limited access to their resources without sharing their credentials, enhancing security and user convenience.
  • Third-Party Integration
    Facilitates seamless integration with third-party services by allowing applications to access user data across different platforms securely.
  • Granular Access Control
    Supports fine-grained permissions, enabling users to specify exactly what resources an application can access and for how long.
  • Enhanced Security
    By allowing applications to access data without exposing user credentials, OAuth reduces the risk of password theft and other security breaches.
  • User Experience
    Improves user experience by allowing single sign-on and reducing the need for creating and remembering multiple usernames and passwords.

Possible disadvantages of OAuth

  • Complexity
    Implementing OAuth can be complex and resource-intensive, requiring careful handling of authorization codes, tokens, and various flows.
  • Security Risks
    If not implemented correctly, OAuth can introduce vulnerabilities such as token interception, token leakage, or insufficient token expiration time handling.
  • Evolving Standards
    OAuth standards and best practices evolve over time, which can require ongoing maintenance and updates to ensure that implementations remain secure and compliant.
  • User Consent Fatigue
    Frequent consent requests for different applications and permissions can lead to user fatigue, potentially causing users to ignore important security warnings.
  • Dependency on Third-Party Services
    Relying on OAuth providers for authentication can be challenging as service outages or changes to provider APIs might disrupt the dependent applications.

Keycloak videos

What is Keycloak and what are the main features | DevNation Live

More videos:

  • Review - Keycloak Overview
  • Review - Easily Secure Your Front and Back End app with Keycloak

OAuth videos

OAuth 2.0: An Overview

More videos:

  • Review - OAuth 2.0 and OpenID Connect (in plain English)
  • Review - Google OAuth Review

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Keycloak and OAuth)
Identity And Access Management
Identity Provider
88 88%
12% 12
Network & Admin
0 0%
100% 100
SSO
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

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Reviews

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

Keycloak Reviews

12 User Authentication Platforms [Auth0, Firebase Alternatives]
You can integrate Keycloak with your applications to have a single-sign-in and single-sign-out experience. Moreover, one can activate social logins without any modification in code. Additionally, it allows user authentication via existing OpenID Connect or SAML 2.0
Source: geekflare.com
10+ Open-source Single-Sign On (SSO) Solutions
Keycloak is a free, open-source identity and access management system with highly configurable Single-Sign-On (SSO) support.
Source: medevel.com
10 Best Auth0 Alternatives and Similar Platforms
Keycloak may be quite beneficial because it provides a built-in method for syncing with databases, such as LDAP or Active Directory, when your users already are registered on. If you use Social Login for social platforms such as Facebook, Keycloak might be a great tool for your organization.
Top 5 Open Source Single Sign-On Software In the Year 2021
KeyCloak is another free software that is based on OpenID Connect, OAuth2.0, and SAML2.0. It provides SSO capabilities across web applications and web services. Above all, this open source software provides integrations with LDAP and Active Directory. There is a logical user interface where users can manage roles, permissions, and sessions. Moreover, this free solution...
IAM: A comparison of open-source tools
/ Digitalberry news / IAM: A comparison of open-source toolsIAM: A comparison of open-source toolsWhy use an Identity Provider (IdP)?Comparative study of Identity Providers (IdP)1. Our team’s first choice: Keycloak2. In second place of our comparative study: Gluu3. Special mention: FusionAuthDiscover our expertiseContact our experts

OAuth Reviews

We have no reviews of OAuth yet.
Be the first one to post

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, OAuth should be more popular than Keycloak. It has been mentiond 21 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.

Keycloak mentions (4)

  • Beyond the login page
    Most of the time nowadays, I prefer offloading this to an identity provider, using OpenID Connect or soon Federated Credential Management (FedCM), even if that means shipping an identity provider as part of the deliverables (I generally go with Keycloak, with keycloak-config-cli to provision its configuration). I'm obviously biased though as I work in IT services, developping software mainly for... - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
  • Okta Says Hackers Stole Data for All Customer Support Users
    Yet another breach of Okta... Why are companies not running something like keycloak [1] themselves? Are administrative/maintenance costs too high or is it plausible deniability? [1] https://keycloak.org. - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
  • I built a ready-to-use auth server with TypeScript and Express.js
    I'd stick with a solution like https://keycloak.org in that instance. Source: about 2 years ago
  • Authelia is an open-source authentication/authorization server with 2FA/SSO
    A few more projects in this space: - Keycloak (you won't get fired for picking this)[0] - CloudFoundry's UAA[1] - Gluu [2] - Keratin [3] - OpenUnison [4] - Dex[5] - Netlify's GoTrue[6] All of these solutions are a bit different but here are some of the axes: - Whether or not they function as an OAuth provider - Whether they're centered around application-user-login (email + password) or application auth (OAuth) or... - Source: Hacker News / about 4 years ago

OAuth mentions (21)

  • Implementing a token based authentication for rest API
    You want OAuth. You almost certainly want to use Keycloak as your provider. Source: almost 2 years ago
  • Skanderbeg Steam Login
    It's the same as when you get "log in with Google" or "Log in with Facebook" buttons on other sites. You can read about OpenAuth here: https://oauth.net/. Source: almost 2 years ago
  • Password isn't dying
    Failure to adhere strictly to battle-tested standards like OAuth or OpenID Connect (OIDC). - Source: dev.to / almost 2 years ago
  • Securing BudPay Transactions: Encryption and Authentication Techniques
    In addition to user authentication, BudPay secures its API endpoints using authentication mechanisms such as API keys and OAuth (Open Authorization). These mechanisms ensure that only authorized applications and services can access BudPay's APIs, protecting user data from unauthorized access. - Source: dev.to / almost 2 years ago
  • How do you create a DB that stores info about which people have which access?
    You'll typically need a way for users to authenticate to the service – probably using OAuth if you want them to login with their accounts from an identity provider, such as Google or Facebook. Source: over 2 years ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing Keycloak and OAuth, you can also consider the following products

Auth0 - Auth0 is a program for people to get authentication and authorization services for their own business use.

OpenID - OpenID is a safe, faster and easier way to log in to web sites.

Okta - Enterprise-grade identity management for all your apps, users & devices

OneLogin - On-demand SSO, directory integration, user provisioning and more

ASP.NET Identity - ASP.NET Identity is a membership-based software system designed for the authentication and authorization of the users via building an ASP.NET application.

Amazon Cognito - Amazon Cognito lets you add user sign-up, sign-in, and access control to your web and mobile apps quickly and easily. It scales to millions of users and supports sign-in with social identity providers and enterprise identity providers via SAML 2.0.