Auth0 Single Sign On vs Keycloak: Side-by-Side Comparison (2026)

Auth0 Single Sign On

Teams managing authentication sprawl across 50+ applications will see immediate friction reduction from Auth0 Single Sign On's Universal Login and passwordless workflows, which cut both user friction and phishing surface simultaneously. SOC2 and HIPAA compliance certifications plus native brute force protection and configurable password policies mean security requirements are pre-baked rather than bolted on afterward. Skip this if you need deep device posture checking or conditional access rules that respond to real-time threat signals; Auth0 excels at authentication itself, not the risk-assessment layer that should sit upstream of it.

Keycloak

Startups and mid-market teams building custom applications need Keycloak because it's open-source IAM you can actually modify without vendor lock-in, and self-host it on infrastructure you already control. The tool supports OAuth 2.0, OpenID Connect, and SAML protocols out of the box, plus passkey-based MFA and multi-tenancy through its Organizations feature, covering NIST CSF 2.0's Identity Management function without licensing per user. Skip this if your organization needs managed SaaS convenience and hands-off operations; Keycloak requires DevOps capacity to deploy, patch, and maintain in production.