head to head · open source
Keycloak vs ProjectDiscovery
Keycloak has 36,832 GitHub stars, 8,941 forks, 3,292 open issues and last shipped yesterday. ProjectDiscovery has 31,272 stars, 3,875 forks, 107 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. Keycloak leads on adoption by 18% (36,832 vs 31,272 stars). Keycloak is written in Java under Apache-2.0; ProjectDiscovery is written in Go under MIT. Keycloak has attracted 24% as many forks as stars, ProjectDiscovery 12%. 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 | ProjectDiscovery | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 37K | ★ 31K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Java | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-15 |
| Forks | ⑂ 8.9K | ⑂ 3.9K |
| 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 ProjectDiscovery if
- You want the ProjectDiscovery feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and ProjectDiscovery 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 ProjectDiscovery
Nuclei is a high performance, open source vulnerability scanner built by ProjectDiscovery, part of the ProjectDiscovery ecosystem. It operates as a CLI tool using a simple YAML based DSL to define custom vulnerability checks, enabling precise, real world exploitation simulation to eliminate false positives.
read the full ProjectDiscovery overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Keycloak or ProjectDiscovery more popular?
Keycloak has 36,832 GitHub stars and ProjectDiscovery has 31,272. Keycloak has the larger community by that measure.
Are Keycloak and ProjectDiscovery free?
Both are open source. Keycloak is licensed under Apache-2.0 and ProjectDiscovery under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Keycloak and ProjectDiscovery?
Keycloak is written in Java and ProjectDiscovery 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 ProjectDiscovery?
Choose Keycloak if you want the larger community (36,832 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose ProjectDiscovery if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.