# Descope vs Keycloak

**Leader by vioscaleAI score:** Descope

| Attribute | Descope | Keycloak |
|---|---|---|
| **vioscaleAI score** | 84.8 (71% (medium)) | 65.4 (46% (low)) |
| activity.commits_last_30d | - | 100 |
| adoption.dependent_repos | - | 678 |
| adoption.github_stars | - | 37,140 |
| adoption.package_downloads_weekly | - | 998,112 |
| content.faq | `[{"answer":"Cloud-based identity platform that handles user authentication, single sign-on, multi-factor authentication, and access control through visual flow orchestration. Designed for B2B enterprises and supports passwordless methods, role-based access control, and multi-tenant configurations. It is indexed under Auth & Identity Software.","source":"https://www.descope.com/blog/post/m2m-agentic-identity-pricing-update","question":"What is Descope?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Descope offers a free tier, so you can start without paying. Paid plans are also available: Free Forever and Pro. Pricing changes often, so verify at source before relying on it.","source":"https://www.descope.com/blog/post/m2m-agentic-identity-pricing-update","question":"Is Descope free?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Descope supports the web, iOS, Android and a command-line interface. Platforms we have not confirmed are simply not listed here rather than ruled out.","source":"https://www.descope.com/blog/post/m2m-agentic-identity-pricing-update","question":"What platforms does Descope support?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have only confirmed a cloud / SaaS deployment for Descope, so it appears to be vendor-hosted. If a self-hosted option exists we have not found it documented publicly.","source":"https://www.descope.com/blog/post/m2m-agentic-identity-pricing-update","question":"Can Descope be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have confirmed 22 integrations for Descope, including Vercel, OpenAI, Google Calendar, Facebook, MCP servers, Email/SMS platforms, CRM platforms and CDP platforms, plus 14 more. This is what we could verify from public sources, so the vendor may support others we have not indexed.","source":"https://www.descope.com/blog/post/m2m-agentic-identity-pricing-update","question":"What does Descope integrate with?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have independently confirmed SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA and GDPR for Descope. Certifications we do not list are ones we have not been able to verify from public sources, which is not the same as Descope not holding them. Always confirm compliance directly before you rely on it.","source":"https://www.descope.com/security-compliance","question":"What security certifications does Descope have?","confidence":0.7},{"answer":"Descope is available in Australia and the EU. Its primary markets are the United States, the EU and Australia.","source":"https://www.descope.com/blog/post/m2m-agentic-identity-pricing-update","question":"Where is Descope available?","confidence":0.75}]` | `[{"answer":"Centralized authentication and authorization platform that manages user identity and access control across applications, reducing the need for individual apps to build their own login systems. It is indexed under Auth & Identity Software.","source":"https://www.keycloak.org","question":"What is Keycloak?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Keycloak is open source, so it can be self-hosted and used at no licence cost. It is released under the Apache-2.0 licence. Pricing changes often, so verify at source before relying on it.","source":"https://www.keycloak.org","question":"Is Keycloak free to use?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Keycloak supports the web, Windows, Linux and a command-line interface. Platforms we have not confirmed are simply not listed here rather than ruled out.","source":"https://www.keycloak.org","question":"What platforms does Keycloak support?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. Keycloak can be deployed on-premise and self-hosted, so it does not have to run on the vendor's infrastructure.","source":"https://www.keycloak.org","question":"Can Keycloak be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have confirmed 10 integrations for Keycloak, including GitHub, Google, Facebook, Twitter, LDAP, Active Directory, Kerberos and Kubernetes, plus 2 more. This is what we could verify from public sources, so the vendor may support others we have not indexed.","source":"https://www.keycloak.org","question":"What does Keycloak integrate with?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. Keycloak is published under the Apache-2.0 licence, a permissive licence that generally allows commercial use and modification. Licence terms can change between releases, so verify against the repository for the version you intend to use.","source":"https://github.com/keycloak/keycloak","question":"Is Keycloak open source?","confidence":0.95}]` |
| deployment.options | `{"cloud":true}` | `{"cloud":true,"self_hosted":true}` |
| description.long | A managed identity and access management service that enables businesses to build and customize authentication journeys across applications. Supports passwordless authentication, multi-tenant configurations, role-based access control, and integration with external identity providers. | An open-source identity management solution that allows users to authenticate once and gain access to multiple applications, eliminating the need for individual login handling at the application level. |
| features.capabilities | `{"mfa":true,"oidc":true,"rbac":true,"hosting":"cloud","saml_sso":true,"hosted_ui":"both","open_source":false,"passwordless":true,"social_login":true,"b2b_multi_tenant":true,"passkeys_webauthn":true,"scim_provisioning":true}` | `{"mfa":true,"oidc":true,"rbac":true,"hosting":"both","saml_sso":true,"hosted_ui":"both","open_source":true,"passwordless":true,"social_login":true,"b2b_multi_tenant":true,"passkeys_webauthn":true,"scim_provisioning":true}` |
| integrations.count | 50 | 8 |
| integrations.list | `[{"name":"Vercel"},{"name":"OpenAI"},{"name":"Google Calendar"},{"name":"Facebook"},{"name":"MCP servers"},{"name":"Email/SMS platforms"},{"name":"CRM platforms"},{"name":"CDP platforms"},{"name":"Audit solutions"},{"name":"Fraud detection systems"},{"name":"OpenID Connect","native":true,"category":"auth","direction":"bidirectional"},{"name":"SAML","native":true,"category":"auth","direction":"bidirectional"},{"name":"Fingerprint","native":true,"category":"fraud"},{"name":"Sardine","native":true,"category":"fraud"},{"name":"Forter","native":true,"category":"fraud"},{"name":"Incode","native":true,"category":"identity_verification"},{"name":"Amazon Rekognition","native":false,"category":"identity_verification"},{"name":"Cloudflare","native":false,"category":"security"},{"name":"reCAPTCHA","native":false,"category":"security"},{"name":"Turnstile","native":false,"category":"security"},{"name":"AbuseIPDB","native":false,"category":"security"},{"name":"Box","native":false,"category":"document_management"},{"name":"Vercel AI SDK","native":false}]` | `[{"name":"GitHub"},{"name":"Google"},{"name":"Facebook"},{"name":"Twitter"},{"name":"LDAP"},{"name":"Active Directory"},{"name":"Kerberos"},{"name":"Kubernetes"},{"name":"Apache APISIX"},{"name":"OpenTelemetry"},{"name":"OpenID Connect","native":true},{"name":"SAML 2.0","native":true}]` |
| language.primary | - | Java |
| license.spdx | - | Apache-2.0 |
| market.availability | `{"primaryMarkets":["US","EU","AU"],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":["AU","EU"],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` | `{"primaryMarkets":[],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` |
| platform.support | `{"web":true}` | `{"cli":true,"linux":true,"windows":true}` |
| pricing | `{"type":"hybrid","plans":[{"free":true,"name":"Free Forever","summary":"Free tier with M2M and agentic identity essentials","description":"Includes M2M and agentic identity essentials available to all developers","contactSales":false},{"free":false,"name":"Pro","contactSales":false}],"summary":"Usage-based pricing with Monthly Active Consents (MAC), Monthly Active Tokens (MATK), and M2M Exchanges. Free tier available.","currency":"USD","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://www.descope.com/blog/post/m2m-agentic-identity-pricing-update","retrievedAt":"2026-08-14T08:38:03.189Z","billingPeriods":["month"]}` | `{"type":"open_source","sourceUrl":"https://www.keycloak.org","retrievedAt":"2026-09-07T13:10:46.299Z"}` |
| pricing.free_tier | yes | yes |
| pricing.model | freemium | open_source |
| pricing.price_level | low | free |
| pricing.transparent | no | yes |
| release.cadence_days | - | 13 |
| release.history | - | `[{"url":"https://github.com/keycloak/keycloak/releases/tag/nightly","date":"2022-09-27T02:22:00Z","type":"prerelease","version":"nightly"},{"url":"https://github.com/keycloak/keycloak/releases/tag/26.8.0","date":"2026-10-01T05:57:20Z","type":"stable","version":"26.8.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/keycloak/keycloak/releases/tag/26.7.5","date":"2026-09-30T17:44:19Z","type":"stable","version":"26.7.5"},{"url":"https://github.com/keycloak/keycloak/releases/tag/26.7.4","date":"2026-09-16T14:44:06Z","type":"stable","version":"26.7.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/keycloak/keycloak/releases/tag/26.7.3","date":"2026-08-31T09:29:37Z","type":"stable","version":"26.7.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/keycloak/keycloak/releases/tag/26.7.2","date":"2026-08-19T05:26:20Z","type":"stable","version":"26.7.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/keycloak/keycloak/releases/tag/26.7.1","date":"2026-08-05T15:54:37Z","type":"stable","version":"26.7.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/keycloak/keycloak/releases/tag/26.7.0","date":"2026-07-09T06:58:13Z","type":"stable","version":"26.7.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/keycloak/keycloak/releases/tag/26.6.4","date":"2026-06-26T19:19:51Z","type":"stable","version":"26.6.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/keycloak/keycloak/releases/tag/26.6.3","date":"2026-06-04T17:00:13Z","type":"stable","version":"26.6.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/keycloak/keycloak/releases/tag/26.6.2","date":"2026-05-19T12:41:03Z","type":"stable","version":"26.6.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/keycloak/keycloak/releases/tag/26.6.1","date":"2026-04-15T13:58:02Z","type":"stable","version":"26.6.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/keycloak/keycloak/releases/tag/26.6.0","date":"2026-04-08T08:54:19Z","type":"stable","version":"26.6.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/keycloak/keycloak/releases/tag/26.5.7","date":"2026-04-02T14:47:13Z","type":"stable","version":"26.5.7"},{"url":"https://github.com/keycloak/keycloak/releases/tag/26.5.6","date":"2026-03-19T06:45:39Z","type":"stable","version":"26.5.6"},{"url":"https://github.com/keycloak/keycloak/releases/tag/26.5.5","date":"2026-03-05T15:40:30Z","type":"stable","version":"26.5.5"},{"url":"https://github.com/keycloak/keycloak/releases/tag/26.5.4","date":"2026-02-20T09:19:45Z","type":"stable","version":"26.5.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/keycloak/keycloak/releases/tag/26.5.3","date":"2026-02-10T07:30:08Z","type":"stable","version":"26.5.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/keycloak/keycloak/releases/tag/26.5.2","date":"2026-01-23T14:26:58Z","type":"stable","version":"26.5.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/keycloak/keycloak/releases/tag/26.5.1","date":"2026-01-14T18:09:13Z","type":"stable","version":"26.5.1"}]` |
| reliability.sla_pct | 99.99 | - |
| reliability.status_page | yes | - |
| security.certifications | `[{"name":"SOC 2 Type II","status":"active"},{"name":"ISO 27001","status":"active"},{"name":"FedRAMP High","status":"active"},{"name":"CSA STAR Level 2","status":"active"},{"name":"PCI DSS","status":"active"}]` | - |
| security.disclosure_policy | yes | yes |
| security.fedramp | yes | - |
| security.gdpr | yes | - |
| security.hipaa | yes | - |
| security.iso27001 | yes | - |
| security.pci | yes | - |
| security.scorecard | - | 9.3 |
| security.soc2 | yes | - |
| security.trust_center | https://www.descope.com/security-compliance | https://www.keycloak.org/security |
| security.vulnerabilities | - | `{"count":0,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=maven&package_name=org.keycloak%3Akeycloak-server-spi&per_page=100","last_12m":0,"max_severity":null}` |

## Capabilities (Auth & Identity Software)

| Capability | Descope | Keycloak |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **Deployment** |  |  |
| Hosting | Cloud only | Cloud + self-hosted |
| **Methods** |  |  |
| Social login | ✓ | ✓ |
| Passwordless | ✓ | ✓ |
| Passkeys / WebAuthn | ✓ | ✓ |
| Multi-factor auth | ✓ | ✓ |
| **Enterprise** |  |  |
| SAML SSO | ✓ | ✓ |
| SCIM provisioning | ✓ | ✓ |
| B2B / multi-tenancy | ✓ | ✓ |
| **Standards** |  |  |
| OpenID Connect provider | ✓ | ✓ |
| **Delivery** |  |  |
| Hosted UI | Both | Both |
| **Access** |  |  |
| RBAC | ✓ | ✓ |
| **Licensing** |  |  |
| Self-hostable OSS core | ✗ | ✓ |

*Source: vioscaleAI. Generated 2026-10-16T19:18:37.822Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*