Software category guide
User management software handles who your users are and what they can do: registration, login, single sign-on, multi-factor authentication, roles and directory sync. Some products manage workforce identity for IT teams (Okta, JumpCloud), while others are developer platforms for customer-facing apps (Auth0, FusionAuth, Keycloak, ZITADEL, Ory Kratos).
This page helps developers and IT teams choose between hosted services and self-hosted identity servers. We mix commercial and open-source options and highlight pricing models, since per-user and per-MAU charges differ greatly.
Tools, licences and pricing checked against vendor and repository pages on November 7, 2026.
| Tool | Best for | Pricing | Licence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Okta | Workforce SSO and IT identity management | Starter from $6/user/month (annual); $1,500 annual minimum | Proprietary |
| Auth0 | Adding authentication to customer-facing apps | Free up to 25,000 MAU; Essentials from $35/month (500 MAU) | Proprietary |
| JumpCloud | IT teams managing users and devices together | From $3/user/month (annual); no free plan, 30-day trial | Proprietary |
| FusionAuth | Self-hosted or hosted customer identity with predictable pricing | Community free (self-hosted); hosted Starter from $162/month (annual) | Proprietary |
| Keycloak | Self-hosted SSO and IAM for applications | Free, open source | Apache-2.0 |
| authentik | Homelab and team SSO with a friendly UI | Free, open source (self-hosted); enterprise edition, See vendor pricing | MIT |
| ZITADEL | Multi-tenant B2B identity | Free, open source (self-hosted); cloud, See vendor pricing | AGPL-3.0 |
| Ory Kratos | API-first identity with full UI control | Free, open source (self-hosted); Ory Network, See vendor pricing | Apache-2.0 |
Best for: Workforce SSO and IT identity management · Starter from $6/user/month (annual); $1,500 annual minimum
Okta is a commercial identity provider for workforce identity. Its pricing page says the Starter suite begins at $6 per user per month billed annually, with a $1,500 annual contract minimum for Workforce Identity.
Best for: Adding authentication to customer-facing apps · Free up to 25,000 MAU; Essentials from $35/month (500 MAU)
Auth0 is a hosted customer identity platform. Its pricing page lists a Free plan with up to 25,000 monthly active users and an Essentials plan at $35 per month for up to 500 MAU.
Best for: IT teams managing users and devices together · From $3/user/month (annual); no free plan, 30-day trial
JumpCloud is a directory and device platform. Its pricing page lists individual features from $3 per user per month and a Device Management bundle at $9 per user per month billed annually, with a 30-day trial instead of a free plan.
Best for: Self-hosted or hosted customer identity with predictable pricing · Community free (self-hosted); hosted Starter from $162/month (annual)
FusionAuth is a customer identity platform. Its pricing page says Community is free and unlimited to self-host, and the hosted Starter plan is $162 per month billed annually.
Best for: Self-hosted SSO and IAM for applications · Free, open source
Keycloak is an open-source identity and access management project providing user federation, strong authentication, user management and fine-grained authorization so apps do not store credentials themselves.
Best for: Homelab and team SSO with a friendly UI · Free, open source (self-hosted); enterprise edition, See vendor pricing
authentik is a self-hosted identity provider for single sign-on supporting several federation and authentication protocols. A commercial enterprise edition is also offered.
Best for: Multi-tenant B2B identity · Free, open source (self-hosted); cloud, See vendor pricing
ZITADEL is an open-source identity and access management platform with SSO, MFA, passkeys, OIDC, SAML and SCIM. It supports multi-tenancy through organisations and projects and can be self-hosted or used as a cloud service.
Best for: API-first identity with full UI control · Free, open source (self-hosted); Ory Network, See vendor pricing
Ory Kratos is a headless identity and user management system exposed through HTTP APIs, handling login, registration, recovery, verification, MFA and profile management.
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| If you need… | Start with |
|---|---|
| Workforce SSO for IT | Okta, JumpCloud |
| Fast auth for a customer app | Auth0, FusionAuth |
| Self-hosted IAM with a mature ecosystem | Keycloak |
| Self-hosted SSO with simple setup | authentik |
| Multi-tenant B2B identity | ZITADEL |
| Headless identity with custom UI | Ory Kratos |
Quick answers to common questions
Software that handles user accounts, authentication, SSO, MFA, roles and directories for either employees or application users.
Keycloak, authentik, ZITADEL and Ory Kratos are OSI-licensed self-hostable options.
FusionAuth Community is free to self-host, but we did not verify an OSI-approved licence for it, so we do not mark it as open source.
Workforce tools charge per user per month; customer identity tools often charge by monthly active users or by hosting tier.
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