head to head · open source
Keycloak vs privacyidea
Keycloak has 37,657 GitHub stars, 9,129 forks, 3,292 open issues and last shipped yesterday. privacyidea has 1,790 stars, 368 forks, 193 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Keycloak leads on adoption by 2,004% (37,657 vs 1,790 stars). Keycloak is written in Java under Apache-2.0; privacyidea is written in Python under AGPL-3.0. Keycloak has attracted 24% as many forks as stars, privacyidea 21%. 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.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| Keycloak | privacyidea | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 38K | ★ 1.8K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Java | Python |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 9.1K | ⑂ 368 |
| 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 privacyidea if
- You want the privacyidea feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and privacyidea 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 privacyidea
.. .. image:: .. :alt: CircleCI .. :target: Backend cov backend Frontend cov frontend .. cov backend image:: :alt: Backend coverage :target: .. cov frontend image:: :alt: Frontend coverage :target: .. .. image:: .. :alt: Downloads .. :target: .. image:: :alt: Latest Version :target: .. image:: :alt: PyPI Python Version :target: .. image:: :alt: License :target: .. image:: :alt: Documentation :target: .. .. image:: .. :alt: Code Climate .. :target: .. .. image:: :alt: Codacy Badge :target: privacyIDEA: Open Source Multi Factor Authentication ==================================================== privacyIDEA is an…
read the full privacyidea 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 privacyidea more popular?
Keycloak has 37,657 GitHub stars and privacyidea has 1,790. Keycloak has the larger community by that measure.
Are Keycloak and privacyidea free?
Both are open source. Keycloak is licensed under Apache-2.0 and privacyidea under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Keycloak and privacyidea?
Keycloak is written in Java and privacyidea in Python. 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 privacyidea?
Choose Keycloak if you want the larger community (37,657 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose privacyidea if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.