What is Keycloak, and Why Run It Managed?
Keycloak is the leading open-source Identity and Access Management platform, originally built by Red Hat. It gives you Single Sign-On (SSO), identity brokering, user federation, and fine-grained authorization. This page covers what Keycloak does, what it is used for, and why teams choose managed Keycloak (Keycloak SaaS) over self-hosting. Ready to deploy? See managed Keycloak hosting or pricing.
Trusted by Industry Leaders
From Fortune 500 companies to government agencies, organizations worldwide rely on Keycloak for secure identity management.
What Keycloak Does: Enterprise IAM, Open Source
The core capabilities that make Keycloak a fit for enterprise identity, without vendor lock-in.
Single Sign-On (SSO)
One login for all your applications. Support for OpenID Connect, OAuth 2.0, and SAML 2.0 protocols.
Identity Brokering
Connect to external identity providers like Google, GitHub, Microsoft, and any OIDC/SAML provider.
User Federation
Sync users from LDAP, Active Directory, or custom sources. No migration required.
Multi-Factor Authentication
TOTP, WebAuthn/Passkeys, SMS, email verification. Configurable per application or user group.
Fine-Grained Authorization
Role-based (RBAC) and attribute-based (ABAC) access control. Define who can access what.
Fully Customizable
Custom themes, extensions, and authentication flows. Make it work exactly how you need.
Why Use Managed Keycloak: Self-Hosted vs Managed
Keycloak is free, but running it in production takes real DevOps effort. Here is what you own when you self-host, versus what a managed Keycloak service handles for you.
Self-Hosted Keycloak
You manage everything
- High availability setup complexity
- Database management & backups
- Security patches & version upgrades
- Monitoring & alerting setup
- SSL certificate management
- On-call for incidents 24/7
Managed with Skycloak
We handle infrastructure, you build apps
- One-click deployment in minutes
- Automatic backups & disaster recovery
- Managed version upgrades
- Built-in monitoring & alerts
- Auto-renewing SSL certificates
- Expert support when you need it
Keycloak Use Cases: Enterprise in Production
How organizations worldwide use Keycloak to solve real identity challenges, from healthcare to government to banking.
Japanese Pharmaceutical Company
Unified authentication across 2M+ users and launched an e-pharmacy platform serving 750+ pharmacies with 200,000+ users onboarded.
Austrian Business Portal (USP)
Central eGovernment platform for entrepreneurs and businesses, providing secure identity management for nationwide services.
Hitachi - Japanese Banks
API management cloud service enabling banks to securely open APIs to third-party fintech companies.
E. Breuninger GmbH
Major German fashion retailer migrated from legacy monolithic auth to Keycloak on OpenShift for flexibility and scalability.
Why Choose Skycloak?
The easiest way to run Keycloak in production.
Deploy in Minutes
Go from signup to production-ready Keycloak in under 5 minutes. No DevOps required.
Unlimited Users
No per-user pricing. Pay for infrastructure, not user count. Scale without surprise bills.
SOC 2 Compliant
Enterprise-grade security with SOC 2 Type II certification. Your data is protected.
Expert Support
Keycloak experts ready to help. From configuration to troubleshooting, we've got you covered.
Global Regions
Deploy in US, EU, or Asia-Pacific. Keep data close to your users for compliance and performance.
Full Admin Access
Complete access to Keycloak admin console. No feature restrictions, no artificial limits.
Ready to Skip the Ops? Try Managed Keycloak
If self-hosting is more than you want to own, Skycloak runs Keycloak for you starting at $29/month per cluster. No per-user fees, unlimited users on every plan. See what is included in managed Keycloak hosting, then check the numbers.
vs competitors at 50K users:
Keycloak FAQs
Common questions about what Keycloak is, what it costs, and when a managed option makes sense.
What is Keycloak?
Keycloak is an open-source Identity and Access Management (IAM) platform originally built by Red Hat and now a CNCF incubating project. It provides Single Sign-On (SSO), multi-factor authentication, identity brokering, user federation (LDAP and Active Directory), and fine-grained authorization using OpenID Connect, OAuth 2.0, and SAML 2.0.
Is Keycloak free?
Yes. Keycloak is free and open source under the Apache 2.0 license, with no licensing fees and no per-user pricing. The software is free, but running it reliably in production costs engineering time: high-availability clusters, database management, security patching, version upgrades, and on-call. A managed Keycloak service removes that operational cost.
Self-hosted vs managed Keycloak: what is the difference?
Self-hosted Keycloak means your team owns the full stack: deployment, high availability, backups, security patches, version upgrades, monitoring, and 24/7 on-call. Managed Keycloak (Keycloak as a Service) hands all of that to a provider like Skycloak, so you get a production-ready cluster in minutes with automatic updates, daily backups, and expert support, and your engineers stay focused on building products.
What is Keycloak used for?
Keycloak is used to add login and identity to applications: Single Sign-On across multiple apps, social and enterprise login (Google, GitHub, Microsoft, SAML providers), multi-factor authentication, B2B and customer (CIAM) portals, workforce IAM, and API protection. Enterprises in healthcare, government, financial services, and SaaS use it to centralize authentication across large user bases.
Is Keycloak still maintained?
Yes. Keycloak is actively maintained as a CNCF incubating project with frequent releases (the current line is the 26.x series), a large contributor community, and adoption by Fortune 500 companies and government agencies. It replaced the legacy Red Hat SSO and runs on the modern Quarkus distribution.
Why use managed Keycloak instead of running it yourself?
Running Keycloak in production reliably takes real DevOps effort: high-availability setup, database backups, version upgrades, SSL renewal, monitoring, and incident response. Managed Keycloak gives you those operational guarantees out of the box, with a predictable monthly cost and no per-user fees, so a small team gets enterprise-grade identity without an identity engineering team. See managed Keycloak pricing.
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