Identity infrastructure for login, SSO, and MFA Zitadel is open-source identity infrastructure built around a simple premise: login, single sign-on, and multi-factor authentication should be a dependable service instead of code every team rewrites. It ships a turnkey login interface, organization and project isolation for multi-tenant products, and role-based access control with scriptable Actions, backed by documented management and auth APIs. Teams run the same codebase self-hosted on PostgreSQL or consume it as the managed ZITADEL Cloud.[1][2]
Quick verdict
Self-hostable identity with SSO and passkeys Zitadel is AGPL-3.0 licensed identity infrastructure with turnkey login, single sign-on over OIDC, OAuth 2.0, and SAML, plus passkeys and multi-factor authentication. It isolates tenants through organizations and projects, extends flows with RBAC and Actions, and runs self-hosted on PostgreSQL 14+ or as the managed ZITADEL Cloud.[1][2][3]
Capabilities
A ready-made login interface covers registration, password and passwordless sign-in, and multi-factor prompts, with branding controls so the flow matches the product around it.[1]
Single sign-on works over OpenID Connect and OAuth 2.0 with SAML 2.0 support, and sign-in can federate to social providers or an existing enterprise identity provider.[1][2]
Passwordless options include FIDO2 and WebAuthn passkeys alongside one-time passwords, with multi-factor authentication enforceable per policy rather than bolted on later.[1][2][3]
Organizations and projects isolate tenants, users, and configuration, which maps directly onto B2B software where each customer needs its own bounded identity space.[1][2]
Role-based access control governs what authenticated users may do, and Actions let teams run custom logic at defined points in the identity flows.[1][2]
Documented Management, Auth, User, Session, Settings, and Organization APIs expose identity operations to backends, with SDKs and code samples in the repository.[1][2]
Self-hosting installs from short Docker Compose commands or Helm charts onto Kubernetes, persisting to PostgreSQL 14 or newer with documented backup guidance.[1]
ZITADEL Cloud runs the same features as a managed service with audit trails, giving teams that do not want to operate identity infrastructure a hosted path.[1][2]
Who will love it
Teams replacing a legacy identity provider will value the Keycloak migration guide, shared OIDC and OAuth2 flows that preserve existing integrations, and tooling for users and passwords.[1][2]
SaaS builders serving business customers will value organization-level isolation, per-tenant branding, and enterprise federation for closing customers with SSO requirements.[1][2]
Platform teams that prefer to own their identity data will value the self-hostable Go codebase on PostgreSQL, with the managed cloud kept as a fallback.[1][2]
Who should avoid it
The codebase is licensed AGPL-3.0, a strong copyleft license. Organizations that modify or redistribute identity code under it should clear the implications first.[1]
Self-hosting means operating PostgreSQL 14 or later plus the Zitadel services themselves, which suits teams with platform capacity better than teams wanting zero infrastructure.[1]
Shops standardized on a different stack or needing a narrow single-protocol bridge may find a full identity platform more machinery than the problem calls for.[1][2]
Fit and alternatives
Against Keycloak, Zitadel positions itself as the modern alternative with a documented migration path; both cover SSO over OIDC, OAuth2, and SAML, and the choice turns on hosting preference, license, and multitenancy needs.[1][2]
Because it speaks OpenID Connect, OAuth 2.0, and SAML 2.0, Zitadel slots into existing application ecosystems without custom plugins on the application side.[1][2]
External identity providers, LDAP directories, and SCIM provisioning integrate alongside native users, so Zitadel can front legacy directories while teams consolidate.[1][2]
Questions worth asking
Can I self-host Zitadel?
Does Zitadel help migrate from Keycloak?
What license is Zitadel released under?
Zitadel is licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License version 3. Teams planning to modify or redistribute the code should review the AGPL-3.0 terms with counsel; running it unmodified as infrastructure is the common case.[1]
Sources and editorial review
Source research. Reviewed on October 13, 2026. Written by Sanjib Sah. AI assisted; reviewed by a human editor.
We have not run or tested this product.
- ZITADEL homepage
official · Observed October 13, 2026
Homepage positioning and capability list: login, SSO, MFA, RBAC, B2B support, audit trails, APIs, Actions, free-start Cloud, self-hosting page, and links to the github.com/zitadel codebase.
- zitadel/zitadel repository
official · Observed October 13, 2026
Repository facts: public codebase, AGPL-3.0 license, Go with TypeScript login, OIDC/OAuth2/SAML/SCIM/LDAP/passkeys/MFA/multitenancy/Actions, Docker Compose and Kubernetes deployment on PostgreSQL 14+, Cloud SaaS, maintained release lines.
- zitadel/zitadel LICENSE
official · Observed October 13, 2026
License identification: the repository root LICENSE file names the GNU Affero General Public License version 3.
- Migrate Users from Keycloak to ZITADEL
official · Observed October 13, 2026
Vendor alternative positioning and migration evidence: calls ZITADEL a modern Keycloak alternative, notes shared OIDC/OAuth2 flows, documents user/password/metadata migration with tooling and services help, and lists enterprise IdP, LDAP, SCIM, MFA, passkeys, Organizations, and Actions support.
- Catalogue record: Keycloak
official · Observed October 13, 2026
Second side of the relationship: Keycloak is an inspected published catalogue product covering SSO over OIDC, OAuth 2.0, and SAML, so the competitor edge rests on overlapping documented workflows rather than shared categories.
Compared with these products
No explicit proprietary baseline is recorded.