Keycloak vs Hanko for Solo Developers

Both Keycloak and Hanko are open-source, self-hostable authentication solutions. But they could not be more different in scope, philosophy, and complexity. Keycloak is an enterprise identity platform built over a decade. Hanko is a modern, passkey-first authentication service built for the post-password era. For solo developers, the choice depends on whether you need power or simplicity.

Keycloak Overview

Keycloak is an identity and access management server originally developed by Red Hat. It supports OAuth 2.0, OpenID Connect, SAML 2.0, LDAP, Active Directory, user federation, identity brokering, and fine-grained role-based access control. Enterprise organizations use it to manage authentication and authorization across dozens of internal and external applications.

You deploy Keycloak as a standalone Java application (usually via Docker) with its own database. The admin console is extensive, offering control over realms, clients, users, roles, groups, authentication flows, and session policies. Custom authentication flows can be built through a visual editor, and themes allow branding the login experience.

The cost of all this capability is operational complexity. Keycloak requires a dedicated server, database management, TLS configuration, Java tuning, and regular security updates. The learning curve is steep, and debugging configuration issues often means diving deep into OIDC specifications.

Hanko Overview

Hanko is an open-source authentication platform focused on passkeys and passwordless login. It ships as a single Go binary that you can self-host or use through Hanko Cloud. The product provides web components (<hanko-auth> and <hanko-profile>) that render a complete, customizable login UI in your frontend.

Hanko's philosophy is that passwords are a problem to be eliminated, not managed. Passkeys (WebAuthn) are the primary login method. Email passcodes serve as the fallback. Traditional passwords are supported but disabled by default. OAuth social providers are available as well.

Self-hosting Hanko is lightweight compared to most auth servers. The Go binary has minimal dependencies, starts quickly, and consumes far less memory than a Java application. Hanko Cloud offers a free tier with 10,000 MAU for developers who prefer managed hosting.

Comparison Table

When to Pick Keycloak

Keycloak is justified when your project has enterprise-level identity requirements that a simpler tool cannot satisfy:

• You need SAML 2.0 for integrating with enterprise SSO systems.
• LDAP or Active Directory federation is a requirement.
• Your architecture involves multiple applications that need centralized auth with complex role hierarchies.
• Custom authentication flows (conditional MFA, step-up authentication, kerberos) are part of your product.
• Multi-tenancy with isolated realms is essential.

For a solo developer, these requirements are uncommon. If you are building a B2B SaaS that sells to enterprises requiring SAML, Keycloak might be necessary. Otherwise, it is almost certainly more than you need.

When to Pick Hanko

Hanko is the better choice for solo developers in nearly every non-enterprise scenario:

• You want modern, passwordless authentication with minimal setup.
• Drop-in web components save you from building login UI from scratch.
• Self-hosting should be simple, not a DevOps project.
• Passkeys are important to your product experience.
• You prefer a focused tool that does authentication well over a platform that does everything.

The lightweight Go binary means you can run Hanko alongside your app on a small VPS without worrying about memory or CPU. Compare that to Keycloak, which routinely consumes 512MB to 1GB of RAM just sitting idle.

Verdict

Hanko wins for solo developers by a wide margin. The operational simplicity alone makes it the obvious choice. A single Go binary versus a Java application server with a complex admin console is not a close contest when you are the only person managing infrastructure.

Hanko also aligns better with where authentication is heading. Passkeys are becoming the standard. Apple, Google, and Microsoft are all pushing WebAuthn adoption. Building with passkeys now means your auth experience improves as the ecosystem matures.

Keycloak remains the right choice for enterprise identity management. If your project genuinely requires SAML, LDAP, or multi-tenant realm isolation, Keycloak is the proven solution. But if you are a solo developer building a web app and considering Keycloak because it seems more "serious," reconsider. The time you spend configuring and maintaining it would be better spent building the product your users actually care about. Hanko gives you modern, secure auth with a fraction of the overhead.