head to head · open source
Keycloak vs melody-auth
Keycloak has 37,657 GitHub stars, 9,129 forks, 3,292 open issues and last shipped yesterday. melody-auth has 651 stars, 70 forks, 3 open issues and last shipped 7 days ago. Keycloak leads on adoption by 5,684% (37,657 vs 651 stars). Keycloak is written in Java under Apache-2.0; melody-auth is written in TypeScript under MIT. Keycloak has attracted 24% as many forks as stars, melody-auth 11%. Keycloak was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (oidc), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| Keycloak | melody-auth | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 38K | ★ 651 |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Java | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-10-27 |
| Forks | ⑂ 9.1K | ⑂ 70 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Keycloak if
- You weight community size — 38K 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 melody-auth if
- You want the melody-auth feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and melody-auth fits your workflow better
About Keycloak
Open Source Identity and Access Management Add authentication to applications and secure services with minimum effort. No need to deal with storing users or authenticating users. Keycloak provides user federation, strong authentication, user management, fine grained authorization, and more. Help and Documentation Documentation User Mailing List Mailing list for help and general questions about Keycloak Join keycloak for general questions, or keycloak dev on Slack for design and development discussions, by creating an account at Reporting Security Vulnerabilities If you have found a security vulnerability, please…
read the full Keycloak overview →
About melody-auth
Melody Auth Melody Auth is a user friendly, robust solution for implementing and hosting your own OAuth and authentication system. Deploy to Cloudflare using Workers, D1, and KV in just minutes — minimizing infrastructure and DevOps overhead. Self Host with Node.js, Redis, and PostgreSQL — giving you full control over your data and infrastructure. Feature Overview Disclaimer All French translations provided in this project have been generated by AI. Please review them carefully for accuracy before use. What's included? OAuth & Authentication Server [[Setup]]( [[Config]]( Server to Server REST API for backend…
read the full melody-auth overview →
More in Security & Privacy
Related comparisons
More Identity & Access Management (IAM) projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Identity & Access Management (IAM) field.
Frequently asked questions
Is Keycloak or melody-auth more popular?
Keycloak has 37,657 GitHub stars and melody-auth has 651. Keycloak has the larger community by that measure.
Are Keycloak and melody-auth free?
Both are open source. Keycloak is licensed under Apache-2.0 and melody-auth under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Keycloak and melody-auth?
Keycloak is written in Java and melody-auth in TypeScript. 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 melody-auth?
Choose Keycloak if you want the larger community (37,657 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose melody-auth if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.