Permit.io is built for policy-as-code. WardenAuth is built for multi-tenant SaaS.
Permit.io is a powerful policy management platform with ABAC/RBAC support, a visual policy editor, and GitOps workflows. If you need complex attribute-based policies, it's excellent. But their free tier is hard-capped at 20 tenants and Startup at 100 — most multi-tenant SaaS products hit those limits immediately. WardenAuth has unlimited tenants on every tier.
Overview
Permit.io invests heavily in developer experience around policy management — their UI-based policy editor, GitOps integration, and support for RBAC, ABAC, and ReBAC make it appealing for teams who want non-engineers to manage authorization rules.
For standard multi-tenant SaaS RBAC — roles, permissions, scoped to per-customer workspaces with unlimited tenants — WardenAuth's model is simpler, includes audit and API key management at every tier, and never caps your tenant count.
Permit.io — Strengths
- Excellent visual policy editor
- Supports ABAC and complex attribute policies
- OPA and Cedar integration
- GitOps-friendly policy-as-code
- Good audit trail and decision logs
Permit.io — Limitations
- Free tier is hard-capped at 20 tenants
- Pricing is MAU-based, not per-check
- Complex mental model for simple RBAC use cases
- Policy-as-code adds operational overhead
- Hosting your own policy engine still required for some features
Pricing comparison
| Scenario | Permit.io | WardenAuth |
|---|---|---|
| Getting started | Free (≤20 tenants hard cap) | Free (unlimited tenants, 50K checks) |
| 1K MAU, 100 tenants | $5/mo (Startup, ≤100 tenants) | Free (unlimited tenants) |
| 10K MAU, 500 tenants | $25/mo Pro (≤20K tenants) | $79/mo (Starter, unlimited tenants) |
| 50K MAU, 5K tenants | $125/mo Pro + overage | $249/mo (Growth, unlimited tenants) |
| Enterprise / high volume | Custom (no tenant limits) | $1,199-$3,499/mo |
Feature comparison
| Feature | Permit.io | WardenAuth |
|---|---|---|
| Fine-grained RBAC | ||
| ABAC / ReBAC | ||
| Unlimited tenants (all tiers) | ||
| Built-in audit trail (40+ events) | Decision logs only | |
| API key management + rotation | ||
| Deny-wins + decision reasoning | ||
| SoD / Approval workflows | ||
| SCIM provisioning | Enterprise only | Included (Business+) |
| Self-hosted deployment | Enterprise only | Available (Enterprise) |
| GitOps / policy-as-code | ||
| Visual policy editor | ||
| Flat-rate, per-check pricing |
Use case guide
Choose Permit.io if you need attribute-based access control (ABAC), want a visual policy editor for non-engineers, need GitOps-style policy management, or need integration with OPA/Cedar for existing infrastructure.
Choose WardenAuth if you're building standard SaaS multi-tenant RBAC (roles per workspace, permissions per role), need API key management alongside authorization, want a simpler mental model, and want to start free.
Permit.io is the best choice if you need complex ABAC policies, a visual policy editor, or GitOps workflows for authorization. But if you are building a multi-tenant SaaS product where every customer is a separate tenant — and you need unlimited tenants, built-in audit, API key management, SoD constraints, and flat-rate pricing that does not scale with MAU — WardenAuth is purpose-built for that use case.
See for yourself — no credit card required.