head to head · open source
Keycloak vs passforios
Keycloak has 36,891 GitHub stars, 8,945 forks, 3,292 open issues and last shipped yesterday. passforios has 1,645 stars, 114 forks, 176 open issues and last shipped 1 months ago. Keycloak leads on adoption by 2,143% (36,891 vs 1,645 stars). Keycloak is written in Java under Apache-2.0; passforios is written in Swift under MIT. Keycloak has attracted 24% as many forks as stars, passforios 7%. 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 | passforios | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 37K | ★ 1.6K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Java | Swift |
| Last push | 2026-09-21 | 2026-08-19 |
| Forks | ⑂ 8.9K | ⑂ 114 |
| 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 passforios if
- You want the passforios feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Swift
- You evaluated both and passforios 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 passforios
Pass for iOS is an open source iOS client for ZX2C4's Pass command line password manager, built for people who already keep credentials in a GPG encrypted, Git versioned password store and want to view, copy, or edit them from an iPhone or iPad.
read the full passforios overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Keycloak or passforios more popular?
Keycloak has 36,891 GitHub stars and passforios has 1,645. Keycloak has the larger community by that measure.
Are Keycloak and passforios free?
Both are open source. Keycloak is licensed under Apache-2.0 and passforios under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Keycloak and passforios?
Keycloak is written in Java and passforios in Swift. 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 passforios?
Choose Keycloak if you want the larger community (36,891 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose passforios if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.