# fusionauth-vs-keycloak

Source: https://startwithidentity.com/compare/fusionauth-vs-keycloak/
Last updated: 2026-06-19
License: content by Start with Identity. Cite the source URL.

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## The honest comparison

FusionAuth and Keycloak are the two names that dominate the self-hosted identity conversation, but they sit on opposite sides of the open-source line. Keycloak is a fully open-source IAM project (CNCF-adjacent, backed by Red Hat) with no license cost and deep configurability. FusionAuth is a commercial product with a free community edition, flat per-instance pricing, and a more curated developer and operations experience, plus a managed cloud if you would rather not self-host.

## When FusionAuth wins

- You want self-hosting without the operational sharp edges of running Keycloak
- Flat, predictable licensing and a managed cloud fallback matter
- First-class multi-tenancy for B2B SaaS is a core requirement
- You value polished APIs, docs, and a faster path from zero to working login

## When Keycloak wins

- Zero license cost is a hard requirement and you have the ops capability to run it
- You want a fully open-source platform you can fork, audit, and extend
- Deep protocol configurability and a large community and plugin ecosystem matter
- You are standardizing on Red Hat or a CNCF-aligned stack

## Pricing

Keycloak is free and open source; your cost is the infrastructure and the engineering time to operate it. FusionAuth has a free community edition and flat per-instance paid editions, so cost is predictable and does not scale with active users.

## Verdict

Choose [Keycloak](https://startwithidentity.com/vendors/open-source/keycloak/) when zero license cost and full open-source control outweigh operational effort. Choose [FusionAuth](https://startwithidentity.com/vendors/ciam/fusionauth/) when you want self-hosted ownership with a more polished product, flat pricing, strong multi-tenancy, and a managed option. Both beat per-MAU SaaS economics at scale. Compare against the managed developer-first route in [Okta vs Auth0](https://startwithidentity.com/compare/okta-vs-auth0/), and see [SuperTokens vs FusionAuth](https://startwithidentity.com/compare/supertokens-vs-fusionauth/) for another self-hostable angle.