Clerk vs Keycloak

Authentication made easy, so you can stop worrying about passwords and start building actual features meets the swiss army knife of iam—if you don't mind sharpening it yourself. Here's our take.

Clerk

Nice Pick

Authentication made easy, so you can stop worrying about passwords and start building actual features.

Pros

• Beautiful UI components
• Easy setup
• Session management
• Organizations
• Pre-built UI components that look good out of the box
• Handles complex security like MFA and social logins without the headache
• Seamless integration with popular frameworks like Next.js and React

Cons

• Pricier
• Vendor lock-in
• Less customizable
• Can get pricey as your user base grows
• Limited customization options for advanced use cases

Keycloak

The Swiss Army knife of IAM—if you don't mind sharpening it yourself.

Pros

• Open-source with robust SSO and OAuth 2.0/OpenID Connect support
• Built-in user federation and social login integrations
• Fine-grained authorization policies for complex access control

Cons

• Steep learning curve for advanced configurations
• Can be resource-heavy and tricky to scale in production

The Verdict

Use Clerk if: You want beautiful ui components and can live with pricier.

Use Keycloak if: You prioritize open-source with robust sso and oauth 2.0/openid connect support over what Clerk offers.

The Bottom Line

Clerk wins

Authentication made easy, so you can stop worrying about passwords and start building actual features.