head to head · open source
Keycloak vs casbin
Keycloak has 36,876 GitHub stars, 8,945 forks, 3,292 open issues and last shipped today. casbin has 20,399 stars, 1,756 forks, 38 open issues and last shipped 9 days ago. Keycloak leads on adoption by 81% (36,876 vs 20,399 stars). Keycloak is written in Java under Apache-2.0; casbin is written in Go under Apache-2.0. Keycloak has attracted 24% as many forks as stars, casbin 9%. Keycloak was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| Keycloak | casbin | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 37K | ★ 20K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Java | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-20 | 2026-09-11 |
| Forks | ⑂ 8.9K | ⑂ 1.8K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Keycloak if
- You weight community size — 37K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick casbin if
- You want the casbin feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and casbin fits your workflow better
About Keycloak
Keycloak is an open source identity and access management server, written in Java and licensed under Apache 2.0, that adds authentication and access control to applications and services, and it is intended for teams and organisations that want to own their user store rather than rent one.
read the full Keycloak overview →
About casbin
Apache Casbin is an Apache licensed authorization library for Go that helps developers enforce access control models such as ACL, RBAC, and ABAC inside their own applications rather than in a separate service.
read the full casbin overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Keycloak or casbin more popular?
Keycloak has 36,876 GitHub stars and casbin has 20,399. Keycloak has the larger community by that measure.
Are Keycloak and casbin free?
Both are open source. Keycloak is licensed under Apache-2.0 and casbin under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Keycloak and casbin?
Keycloak is written in Java and casbin in Go. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Keycloak or casbin?
Choose Keycloak if you want the larger community (36,876 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose casbin if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.