Keycloak is great for authentication. WardenAuth is purpose-built for authorization.
Keycloak is the most popular open-source identity and access management platform — handling authentication (OIDC/SAML), user federation, and basic RBAC. But its authorization model is coarse-grained by design: resource-based permissions without deny-wins, no ReBAC, no approval workflows. WardenAuth provides fine-grained RBAC + ReBAC as a dedicated authorization layer alongside your existing Keycloak authentication.
Overview
Keycloak is excellent at what it does: authentication, SSO, user federation, and identity brokering. Its authorization services add resource-based permissions that work well for simple use cases.
But for multi-tenant SaaS with per-customer RBAC, fine-grained permissions with wildcards, relationship-based access control, or compliance features like SoD and audit trails — Keycloak's authorization model is not designed for these patterns. WardenAuth integrates alongside Keycloak (or any IdP) as a dedicated authorization layer.
Keycloak — Strengths
- Complete open-source IAM platform
- Authentication + SSO (OIDC, SAML, social login)
- User federation (LDAP, Active Directory)
- Basic authorization services (resource-based permissions)
- Large community, Red Hat backing
- Self-hosted, no vendor lock-in
Keycloak — Limitations
- Coarse-grained authorization — no wildcard permissions
- No ReBAC or relationship-based access control
- No deny-wins semantics
- No SoD constraints or approval workflows
- No built-in audit trail for authorization decisions
- Authorization tightly coupled to Keycloak
- Multi-tenancy requires separate realms — not designed for B2B SaaS
Pricing comparison
| Scenario | Keycloak | WardenAuth |
|---|---|---|
| Platform | Free (open-source, self-hosted) | Free (50K checks, managed) |
| 1,000 tenants | Separate Keycloak realms — operational overhead | $79/mo (Starter, unlimited tenants) |
| Fine-grained authorization | Limited — resource-based permissions only | Full RBAC + ReBAC + ABAC |
| Management dashboard | Keycloak admin console (IAM-focused) | Purpose-built RBAC dashboard |
Feature comparison
| Feature | Keycloak | WardenAuth |
|---|---|---|
| Authentication (OIDC/SAML) | ||
| Fine-grained RBAC | Basic resource permissions | |
| Wildcard permissions | ||
| ReBAC / relationships | ||
| Deny-wins semantics | ||
| Multi-tenant scopes | Separate realms (operational overhead) | |
| Audit trail | ||
| SoD / Approval workflows | ||
| API key management | ||
| SSO / SCIM | Included (Business+) | |
| Open-source | ||
| Managed platform | ||
| Flat-rate pricing | Free (self-hosted) |
When each makes sense
Choose Keycloak if you need a complete open-source IAM platform (authentication + basic authorization + user management) and your authorization requirements are simple — a few roles per realm, resource-based permissions, no multi-tenancy or ReBAC needed.
Choose WardenAuth (alongside Keycloak) if you use Keycloak for authentication but need fine-grained authorization — multi-tenant RBAC, wildcard permissions, deny-wins semantics, ReBAC, audit trails, or SoD constraints — that Keycloak was not designed to handle.
Keycloak is the right choice for authentication and basic IAM — it does that exceptionally well, for free. Pair it with WardenAuth for the fine-grained authorization layer that Keycloak was not designed to provide. They complement each other: Keycloak handles who you are; WardenAuth handles what you can do.
See for yourself — no credit card required.