Cloud · head to head
Infracost vs Keycloak
Infracost
Cloud
Cloud cost estimates in pull requests, with governance in the paid tier
- From
- Free
- Free plan
- Yes
Keycloak
Developer Tools
Open-source identity and access management server.
- From
- Free
- Free plan
- Yes
The short version
- Each has a real cost: Infracost usage-based resources such as object storage, serverless functions and data transfer have no cost without monthly usage figures supplied by hand, and the documentation warns plainly that engineers otherwise read them as free.; Keycloak requires self-hosted deployment and operational expertise to install, configure and maintain
- Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Infracost and Keycloak actually diverge.
Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated).
What each one covers
Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.
Only in Infracost
- Pull request cost diffs
- Multi-format parsing
- Apache-2.0 CLI
- FinOps policies
- Automated remediation
- IDE integration
Only in Keycloak
Nothing recorded that Infracost does not also cover.
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
Infracost
- Teams that want an expensive infrastructure change questioned at review rather than discovered on an invoicenot Keycloak
- Platform groups enforcing tagging so cloud spend can be attributed to a team at allnot Keycloak
- Organisations adopting FinOps practice without buying a full cloud management platformnot Keycloak
- Engineers who want a cost figure in the editor while writing the Terraformnot Keycloak
Keycloak
- Organisations requiring self-hosted identity infrastructure for compliance or data residencynot Infracost
- Companies with existing LDAP/Active Directory systems needing federated authenticationnot Infracost
- Open-source projects and communities requiring free IAM without licensing costsnot Infracost
- Enterprises building custom identity workflows requiring fine-grained authorisationnot Infracost
- Teams with sufficient operational expertise to manage infrastructurenot Infracost
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
Infracost
- Usage-based resources such as object storage, serverless functions and data transfer have no cost without monthly usage figures supplied by hand, and the documentation warns plainly that engineers otherwise read them as free.
- Splitting production from non-production usage assumptions is not supported in the free usage file, which the docs attribute to a missing project filter, so that separation requires the paid product.
- The step from 250 to 1,000 dollars a month is large and the Cloud tier includes only ten admin seats, with developer seats charged at a figure that is not published, so the cost for a large organisation cannot be computed from the pricing page.
- Estimates are list price. Negotiated agreements, committed use discounts and reserved instance economics require SKU-level overrides available only on Enterprise, so the number in the pull request is not the number on the bill.
- The share of the product covered by the Apache-2.0 licence is shrinking. Checks, automated fixes, policies and agent integrations are all hosted-only, so the permissive licence increasingly protects the estimation engine rather than the product.
Keycloak
- Requires self-hosted deployment and operational expertise to install, configure and maintain
- No managed cloud option provided by Red Hat; organisations must operate infrastructure themselves or use third-party distributions
- Clustering and high-availability configurations require additional operational knowledge
- Community support only; commercial support requires third-party vendors or distributions
Pricing, plan by plan
Infracost
Free- FreeFree
- 1,000 runs a month
- Terraform, CloudFormation and CDK estimates
- Community support
- Starter$250/month
- 10,000 runs a month
- Email support
- Cloud$1000/month
- Ten admin seats, developer seats charged separately
- FinOps policies and cost guardrails
- Dashboards and audit trails
- Enterprise$undefined/year
- SKU-level price overrides for negotiated rates
- Business unit reporting
- SSO with SAML group mapping
Keycloak
Free- Open-sourceFree
- Full platform functionality
- Self-hosted deployment
- Community support
Which should you pick?
Choose Infracost if
- You need pull request cost diffs.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Web, macOS, Linux, Windows, Docker.
- You also want multi-format parsing.
Choose Keycloak if
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Self-hosted, Docker, Kubernetes, Linux, Windows, API.
Questions people ask
- Is Infracost or Keycloak better?
- Neither clearly leads. Infracost starts at Free and Keycloak at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Infracost or Keycloak?
- Infracost starts at Free and Keycloak at Free.
- Does Infracost or Keycloak run on more platforms?
- Infracost runs on Web, macOS, Linux, Windows, Docker. Keycloak runs on Self-hosted, Docker, Kubernetes, Linux, Windows, API.
- Can I use Infracost for free?
- Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
- What is Infracost best used for?
- Infracost is most often used for teams that want an expensive infrastructure change questioned at review rather than discovered on an invoice, platform groups enforcing tagging so cloud spend can be attributed to a team at all, organisations adopting finops practice without buying a full cloud management platform, engineers who want a cost figure in the editor while writing the terraform. Of those, teams that want an expensive infrastructure change questioned at review rather than discovered on an invoice and platform groups enforcing tagging so cloud spend can be attributed to a team at all are not what Keycloak is typically brought in for.
- What can Infracost do that Keycloak cannot?
- Infracost covers Pull request cost diffs, Multi-format parsing, Apache-2.0 CLI, FinOps policies.
Answered from the vendors’ own pages
Infracost: Is the open source version genuinely useful on its own?
Yes, for estimation. It parses your definitions and produces breakdowns and diffs locally. What it does not do is comment on pull requests, enforce policy or report across an organisation, all of which are hosted-only.
Keycloak: What protocols does Keycloak support?
Keycloak supports OpenID Connect, OAuth 2.0 and SAML 2.0 protocols for authentication and authorisation.
SourceInfracost: Will the estimate match my cloud bill?
No. It is list price. Committed use discounts, enterprise agreements and reserved instances need SKU-level overrides that sit in the Enterprise tier.
Keycloak: Can Keycloak integrate with existing user directories?
Yes. Keycloak supports user federation with LDAP and Active Directory systems, allowing organisations to leverage existing user directories.
SourceInfracost: Why do my S3 and Lambda resources show no cost?
Usage-based resources need monthly usage values supplied in a usage file or defined centrally. Without them they estimate at zero, which is the documented behaviour and the most common way the tool misleads.
Keycloak: Is Keycloak free?
Yes. Keycloak is fully open-source and free to deploy and use. No licensing fees are required.
SourceInfracost: Has the licence ever changed?
No. The command line tool has been Apache 2.0 throughout, with no Business Source or AGPL episode, which is unusual in this category.
Infracost: What is a run?
Not defined on the public pricing page, and the run allowance is what separates the free and Starter tiers, so establish the definition before choosing between them.
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