Keycloak vs Microsoft Entra ID

Keycloak and Microsoft Entra ID are both open source iam solutions. Keycloak open-source IAM platform with SSO, identity brokering, and fine-grained authorization, while Microsoft Entra ID microsoft's cloud identity platform with deep M365 and Azure integration. The best choice depends on your organization's size, technical requirements, and budget.

Choose Keycloak if completely free — no licensing costs regardless of user count is your priority and organizations with engineering expertise that want full control over their identity platform, avoid vendor lock-in, and eliminate IAM licensing costs. Choose Microsoft Entra ID if included in Microsoft 365 licensing — significant cost savings for M365 shops matters most and organizations heavily invested in Microsoft 365 and Azure that want unified identity management across their Microsoft ecosystem.

Microsoft Entra ID starts at Free tier included with M365 / P1 from $6/user/month / P2 from $9/user/month (per-user monthly subscription (tiered)). Keycloak starts at Free (open source) / Red Hat SSO for enterprise support (free open source with optional commercial support). As always, the sticker price only tells part of the story. Factor in add-ons, implementation costs, and what's actually included at each tier.

It depends on how deeply Keycloak is embedded in your stack. Most teams run both in parallel for a few weeks before cutting over. Check whether Microsoft Entra ID supports importing your existing configs or policies. That's usually the biggest time sink.