head to head · open source
Keycloak vs Tirreno
Keycloak has 37,657 GitHub stars, 9,129 forks, 3,292 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Tirreno has 1,561 stars, 185 forks, 9 open issues and last shipped 10 days ago. Keycloak leads on adoption by 2,312% (37,657 vs 1,561 stars). Keycloak is written in Java under Apache-2.0; Tirreno is written in PHP under AGPL-3.0. Keycloak has attracted 24% as many forks as stars, Tirreno 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 | Tirreno | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 38K | ★ 1.6K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Java | PHP |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-10-24 |
| Forks | ⑂ 9.1K | ⑂ 185 |
| 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 Tirreno if
- You want the Tirreno feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches PHP
- You evaluated both and Tirreno 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 Tirreno
tirreno tirreno is a security framework. tirreno [tir.ˈrɛ.no] helps understand, monitor, and protect your product from threats, fraud, and abuse. While classic cybersecurity focuses on infrastructure and network perimeter, most breaches occur through compromised accounts and application logic abuse that bypasses firewalls, SIEM, WAFs, and other defenses. tirreno detects threats where they actually happen: inside your product. tirreno is a hand written, few dependency, "low tech" PHP/PostgreSQL application. After a straightforward five minute installation, you can ingest events through API calls and immediately…
read the full Tirreno overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Keycloak or Tirreno more popular?
Keycloak has 37,657 GitHub stars and Tirreno has 1,561. Keycloak has the larger community by that measure.
Are Keycloak and Tirreno free?
Both are open source. Keycloak is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Tirreno under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Keycloak and Tirreno?
Keycloak is written in Java and Tirreno in PHP. 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 Tirreno?
Choose Keycloak if you want the larger community (37,657 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose Tirreno if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.