Keycloak works on a self-hosted model. As a result, businesses have full control over their identity data and systems. This setup stands apart from the common Software-as-a-Service market.
What is Keycloak?
Keycloak is a standalone, open-source solution for Identity Providers (IdP) and Access Management. You can think of it as a central security point for your applications. So, instead of each application setting up its own login pages, they hand over these important security tasks to Keycloak. This also applies to password storage and user management logic.
This model is built on the idea of bringing identity together. So when a user needs to log into an application, they are sent to Keycloak.
Keycloak is designed for different kinds of systems. These include microservice setups, single-page applications, and traditional web applications. This makes it a versatile tool for securing a varied digital environment.
Usability and Admin Experience
- End-User Experience: This is generally positive and smooth. Once it is hooked up, end-users get a single login experience (SSO). This works across all connected applications. Furthermore, the account management console lets users look after their own profiles, login details, and active sessions in one place.
- Administrative Console: This is a major point of disagreement. The Admin Console is powerful, but it gets mixed reviews. On one hand, expert users with deep IAM knowledge may find it logical. On the other hand, many others report it has a bad user interface. They say it is hard to get around and feels unintuitive. A newer console has been brought in to fix this, but the view of a steep learning curve for administrators still holds on.
- Performance: Performance depends heavily on correct configuration and tuning. For instance, a poorly configured Keycloak instance can slow down under a heavy load. To scale up, you need a correctly set up high-availability cluster. This also requires a tuned external database and improved caching. This is not a simple engineering task, and many users have a hard time with it.
- Reliability: When it is deployed correctly in a high-availability cluster, Keycloak is seen as a reliable and stable solution. It is capable of dealing with large workloads. However, community reports point out that wrong configurations in the distributed cache can lead to faulty session copying. Sometimes, this calls for full cluster restarts to sort out.
Developer Usage Experience: Clustering and High Availability
When you deploy Keycloak for production, you need to move on from a single-node setup. You must switch over to a highly available, clustered setup.
However, this is not a simple change. It is a large engineering project that is essential for reliability and scaling.
A typical high-availability setup is made up of multiple Keycloak server instances. These run behind a load balancer and link up to a shared, production-grade external database like PostgreSQL.
- The center of this setup is the distributed cache, which is run by Infinispan. This cache copies data across all nodes in the cluster. This data includes user sessions and authentication states. This makes sure that if a user's request is sent to a different server, their session stays active.
- Properly setting up the cluster communication with JGroups is very important and complex. In fact, different settings are required for different environments, like Kubernetes or physical servers.
- While this setup allows for scaling out, it also brings about new challenges. For example, adding or removing nodes can start a resource-heavy cache rebalancing. In addition, community feedback suggests that performance can worsen when managing hundreds of realms. This makes it potentially unsuitable for large multi-tenant SaaS applications, where each customer gets a separate realm.
Key Features of Keycloak
The Keycloak platform is built on a group of powerful features. These features give complete control over identity and access. There is also a strong emphasis on flexibility and open standards.
1. Centralized Single Sign-On (SSO)
This is Keycloak's main function. It gives a single authentication experience. This allows users to log in one time to get into multiple applications.
- This is backed up by strong session management. This gives administrators a central view to watch and cancel user sessions.
- The duration for sessions and tokens can be configured in many ways. This is made possible through the use of SSO protocols. Examples are OpenID Connect (OIDC), OAuth 2.0, and SAML 2.0.
2. User Federation and Identity Brokering
Keycloak is very good at linking up with existing identity sources.
- User Federation: It can connect to external user directories like LDAP and Active Directory. It can either copy users into its own database or check the external storage in real time. Through its User Storage SPI, it can be built out to connect with users from almost any source, including old databases.
- Identity Brokering: Keycloak can act as a link between your applications and external Identity Providers. For instance, it can show users login options for social networks like Google or GitHub. It can also connect to other corporate SAML or OIDC providers. It then standardizes the identity data and gives a standard token to your application.
3. Customizable Authentication Flows
This is one of Keycloak's most powerful features. The Admin Console includes a visual editor. This editor helps define the exact sequence of steps for any action a user carries out, like logging in or signing up.
You can chain together different authenticators, such as a password, OTP, or WebAuthn. You can set them as required or optional. You can also create conditional, step-up authentication for high-risk actions.
4. Fine-Grained Authorization Services
Going beyond authentication, Keycloak gives sophisticated tools for authorization.
- Role-Based Access Control (RBAC): It supports realm-level, or global, roles. It also supports client-level, or application-specific, roles. It also has composite roles and user groups for efficient permission management.
- Policy-Based Access Control (PBAC): Its advanced authorization engine is based on the User-Managed Access (UMA) 2.0 standard. It allows for policies that are based on user attributes, time of day, or IP address. You can also write custom logic in JavaScript. Because of this, it allows for a much more detailed level of access control than roles alone.
Keycloak Pricing: The Economics of Open Source
Keycloak's pricing is very different from mainstream SaaS suppliers. The software itself comes without any licensing or per-user fees. However, the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) is a very important point to think about.
- Model: There are three main ways to use it. The most common is the self-hosted open-source model. Here, the cost is only for operations, which is made up of systems and staff.
- Commercial Support: For enterprise-grade support, businesses can choose the Red Hat build of Keycloak. This is a subscription-based service. It is priced per system unit, such as CPU cores, instead of per user. This service gives supported releases, patches, and expert support.
- Managed Services: A growing number of third-party vendors supply Keycloak as a managed service. They take care of the operational work of hosting and scaling. In return, they give a predictable monthly cost. This takes away the need to look after the underlying systems and upkeep.
- Cost Factors: For self-hosting, the final cost is a mix of monthly cloud system expenses and the even larger cost of skilled engineering time. The cloud costs for a multi-node cluster, database, and load balancer are often estimated at $600 to $800 or more per month. The engineering time is needed for setup, tuning, and ongoing upkeep.
Keycloak Reviews and Ratings
The general market feeling for Keycloak is that it is a powerful but difficult tool. It regularly earns good but not top-level ratings on platforms like Gartner and G2. These are typically in the 4.1 to 4.3 out of 5-star range.
- User reviews bring up a clear contradiction. The platform is praised for its great flexibility, zero licensing cost, and powerful feature set. It is often called a developer's playground. It is also referred to as a multipurpose tool because it can solve any IAM problem.
- At the same time, it is heavily criticized. This is due to its steep learning curve, complicated production setup, and insufficient documentation. The customization that some users praise is described by others as extremely hard. They say it calls for months of pain and reverse engineering.
- This contradiction points to two different user types. First is the IAM expert, who gets on well with Keycloak's low-level control. Second is the general developer, who is often overwhelmed by its complexity and lack of direction.
Overall View of Keycloak
Keycloak stands out as a major tool in the open-source security space. It champions control and flexibility in an industry that is moving towards SaaS models. Its adoption by the CNCF confirms its position as a long-term, core part for cloud-native applications.
- Keycloak’s feature set is certainly enterprise-grade. It gives a free, powerful alternative for businesses that want to build up their own security systems.
- This power comes at a price. This price is not in licensing fees, but in operational work. Therefore, the decision to adopt Keycloak cannot be based on its free price tag alone.
- There are ongoing complaints about its complexity. People also mention its difficult learning curve and poor documentation. These are significant warnings for any team not already equipped with deep Java and DevOps knowledge.
- Setting up Keycloak is not a simple tool deployment. Instead, it is a full-scale engineering project.
- The potential for control and cost savings at a large scale is huge. Still, the trade-offs must be carefully weighed. This means comparing its raw power against the needed investment in systems and specialized talent.
Infisign: The Best Keycloak Alternative
While Keycloak does not come with licensing fees, its complex setup makes it a suitable option only if you have a deep technical background.
For advanced authentication and attribute-based access control, Infisign is an AI-powered IAM platform. It comes with over 6000 API and SDK connections. This makes it a straightforward option to go with.
Aside from this, with Infisign, you get benefits like:
- SSO Set Up in Under 4 Hours: With multiple pre-built connections, Infisign lets you set up SSO in under 4 hours. It also allows for the use of a wide range of SSO protocols like SAML, OAuth, OIDC, and MPWA. This makes it versatile software as well.
- AI Access Assist: With AI Access Assist, you can allow for the automatic assignment of users through set policies. You can also get instant responses to threats.
- No Hidden Costs: Advanced features like Adaptive MFA, ABAC, and AI-driven workflows are part of the main product. They are not expensive add-ons. This means you get the full set of abilities without surprise charges as your security needs grow.
- Attribute-Based Access Control: Infisign allows for the use of ABAC policies. A manager could, for example, draw up a rule. This rule could grant access to financial reports only to users in the Finance department with the Senior role, during business hours, from a US IP address.
- Adaptive MFA: Adaptive MFA is a main, built-in feature. Infisign intelligently checks the context of a login attempt. It takes into account user location, device reputation, time of day, and user behavior. This decides whether to ask for an MFA challenge based on risk. This gives protection with risky sign-ins.
- Supports Legacy + Web-based Apps: Infisign is designed with a built-in, unified gateway. This gateway secures everything from modern SaaS apps that use SAML or OIDC to older, on-premise legacy applications that might use headers or other protocols.
- Just In Time Access: Infisign has JIT Access. This lets users ask for and get temporary, time-limited high-level permissions. This can be very useful when you work with vendors or team up with others for a short period.
- Unlimited Directory Sync: This is for any businesses with a large range of software using multiple provisioning tools. Whether it's Oracle, AWS, or Azure, Infisign allows you to sync all of these an unlimited number of times. This helps with central access control.
- Automated Audit Trails: Infisign creates automated, compliance-ready audit trails right out of the box. It generates human-readable logs and reports. These clearly show who got into what, when, and from where.
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FAQs for Keycloak
What is Keycloak's core method for security?
Keycloak's core method is to bring together identity and access management.x By acting as a standalone Identity Provider, it separates security logic from individual applications. It then operates on open standards like OIDC, OAuth 2.0, and SAML 2.0. This helps to create a single, secure point of authentication and authorization.
What are the main products or versions of Keycloak?
The main product is the free, community-driven open-source Keycloak project. You can self-host this version. For enterprises that need guaranteed support and updated releases, Red Hat supplies a commercial subscription product. This is called the Red Hat build of Keycloak. In addition, various third-party businesses supply Keycloak as a managed service.
How does Keycloak's setup benefit businesses?
The self-hosted setup gives complete control over data. This is very important for businesses with strict data location or government requirements. Its open-source nature gets rid of licensing costs. This makes it highly cost-effective at a large scale. Furthermore, the SPI framework gives great flexibility to link up with any custom or legacy system.
What are the most common criticisms of Keycloak?
The most common criticisms are about its operational complexity. Users frequently bring up the difficult and complicated setup process. This is especially true for high-availability clusters. They also point to a steep learning curve, a non-intuitive admin console, and insufficient documentation as major challenges. These factors significantly add to the total cost of ownership.
