Is Keycloak or WorkOS better?

Neither wins outright. Keycloak is best for teams with ops capacity that need on-prem or regulated-data deployments. WorkOS is best for b2b saas shipping sso/scim to enterprise customers without per-mau pricing surprises.

Which is cheaper, Keycloak or WorkOS?

Keycloak: Free, open source. Hosting and ops are on you.. WorkOS: Free up to 1M MAU on AuthKit. SSO + Directory Sync priced per connection.. Per-seat pricing means the cheaper sticker price isn't always the cheaper bill — model your seat count first.

Can I migrate from Keycloak to WorkOS?

Yes. Most teams export Keycloak data as CSV or Markdown and re-import into WorkOS. The painful part is usually automations and integrations, not the data itself.

Authentication · 2026

Keycloak·vs·WorkOS

Two solid choices in authentication. Here's how they stack up on pricing, fit, and trade-offs — so you can decide in a minute.

Reviewed by Switchpoint Editors · Last updated May 25, 2026

Contender A

Keycloak

Battle-tested open-source IAM you run yourself — no MAU costs, full data residency.

Best for

Teams with ops capacity that need on-prem or regulated-data deployments.

Pricing

Free, open source. Hosting and ops are on you.

Pros

Zero per-user cost
Full data ownership and residency control
Mature enterprise feature set (SSO, SCIM, federation)

Trade-offs

You operate it — upgrades, scaling, security
Steeper learning curve than hosted SaaS

Visit Keycloak

Contender B

WorkOS

Enterprise-ready auth purpose-built for B2B SaaS — SSO, SCIM, and directory sync as first-class primitives.

Best for

B2B SaaS shipping SSO/SCIM to enterprise customers without per-MAU pricing surprises.

Pricing

Free up to 1M MAU on AuthKit. SSO + Directory Sync priced per connection.

Pros

SSO/SCIM are first-class, not upsells
Predictable per-connection pricing
Excellent enterprise support and SLAs

Trade-offs

UI components less polished than Clerk's
Best fit is B2B — less optimized for B2C funnels

Visit WorkOS

The matrix

Side-by-side

Best for

Keycloak

Teams with ops capacity that need on-prem or regulated-data deployments.

WorkOS

B2B SaaS shipping SSO/SCIM to enterprise customers without per-MAU pricing surprises.

Pricing

Keycloak

Free, open source. Hosting and ops are on you.

WorkOS

Free up to 1M MAU on AuthKit. SSO + Directory Sync priced per connection.

Top strength

Keycloak

Zero per-user cost

WorkOS

SSO/SCIM are first-class, not upsells

Biggest trade-off

Keycloak

You operate it — upgrades, scaling, security

WorkOS

UI components less polished than Clerk's

	Keycloak	WorkOS
Best for	Teams with ops capacity that need on-prem or regulated-data deployments.	B2B SaaS shipping SSO/SCIM to enterprise customers without per-MAU pricing surprises.
Pricing	Free, open source. Hosting and ops are on you.	Free up to 1M MAU on AuthKit. SSO + Directory Sync priced per connection.
Top strength	Zero per-user cost	SSO/SCIM are first-class, not upsells
Biggest trade-off	You operate it — upgrades, scaling, security	UI components less polished than Clerk's

The verdict

Which should you pick?

If…Pick Keycloak

Teams with ops capacity that need on-prem or regulated-data deployments.

If…Pick WorkOS

B2B SaaS shipping SSO/SCIM to enterprise customers without per-MAU pricing surprises.

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