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Developer Tools · head to head

Keycloak vs Rill Data

Keycloak logo

Keycloak

Developer Tools

Open-source identity and access management server.

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Visit KeycloakFull review
Rill Data logo

Rill Data

Business Intelligence

Local-first BI on DuckDB and ClickHouse with dashboards defined as code

From
$20/month
Free plan
No
Visit Rill DataFull review

The short version

  • Keycloak is an open-source IAM platform supporting OpenID Connect, OAuth 2.
  • Keycloak is free; Rill Data starts at $20/mo.
  • Where Keycloak falls short: requires self-hosted deployment and operational expertise to install, configure and maintain.
  • Prices and features on this page were last checked on 13 November 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Keycloak and Rill Data actually diverge.

Attributes where Keycloak and Rill Data differ
AttributeKeycloakRill Data
Starting priceFree$20/month
Pricing modelOpen-sourcePer user per month plus metered compute
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsSelf-hosted, Linux, Windows, APIWeb, Linux, macOS, Windows
CategoryDeveloper ToolsBusiness Intelligence

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 Keycloak

Nothing recorded that Rill Data does not also cover.

Only in Rill Data

  • Local development
  • Dashboards as code
  • Embedded DuckDB
  • Bring your own database
  • Alerts and scheduled reports
  • Embedded analytics

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Keycloak

  • Organisations requiring self-hosted identity infrastructure for compliance or data residencynot Rill Data
  • Companies with existing LDAP/Active Directory systems needing federated authenticationnot Rill Data
  • Open-source projects and communities requiring free IAM without licensing costsnot Rill Data
  • Enterprises building custom identity workflows requiring fine-grained authorisationnot Rill Data
  • Teams with sufficient operational expertise to manage infrastructurenot Rill Data

Rill Data

  • An analytics team that wants dashboard changes to go through code review rather than being edited in a web UInot Keycloak
  • Interactive exploration of event-scale data where a warehouse round trip per filter click is too slownot Keycloak
  • Embedding fast slice-and-dice dashboards into a product where the underlying store is already ClickHouse or Druidnot Keycloak
  • A data engineer prototyping a metrics layer locally on a laptop before committing to any cloud spendnot Keycloak

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

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

Rill Data

  • The seat price of 20 dollars is misleading as a budget figure: Rill’s own calculator puts a small two-seat project at around 256 dollars a month, with compute making up the great majority
  • Dashboards are defined in YAML and SQL, so business users cannot create or change one without a developer and a Git workflow, which stalls self-service adoption
  • It is built for the explore-a-metric pattern and does not produce pixel-perfect financial or operational reports, so most organisations still need a second reporting tool
  • AI tokens and API calls are quota-limited per seat, with API overage at a cent per call, so programmatic consumers can create an unbudgeted line item
  • As a smaller vendor competing against Looker, Tableau and Power BI, the ecosystem of consultants, templates and trained analysts is thin, which raises the cost of hiring for it

Pricing, plan by plan

Keycloak

Free
  • Open-sourceFree
    • Full platform functionality
    • Self-hosted deployment
    • Community support

Rill Data

$20/month
  • Starter$20/mo
    • Per seat, up to twenty seats
    • Three projects
    • Compute at 0.15 USD per compute unit hour
  • Growth$30/mo
    • Per seat, up to one hundred seats
    • Ten projects
    • Compute at 0.20 USD per compute unit hour
  • EnterpriseOn request
    • Annual platform licence with negotiated capacity
    • Unlimited seats and projects
    • Dedicated infrastructure

Which should you pick?

Choose Keycloak if

  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Self-hosted, Linux, Windows, API.
Keycloak review

Choose Rill Data if

  • You need local development.
  • You work on Web, Linux, macOS, Windows.
  • You also want dashboards as code.
Rill Data review

Questions people ask

Is Keycloak or Rill Data better?
Neither clearly leads. Keycloak starts at Free and Rill Data at $20/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Keycloak or Rill Data?
Keycloak has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Keycloak and $20/month for Rill Data.
Does Keycloak or Rill Data run on more platforms?
Keycloak runs on Self-hosted, Linux, Windows, API. Rill Data runs on Web, Linux, macOS, Windows.
Can I use Keycloak for free?
Yes. Keycloak has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Rill Data starts at $20/month.
What is Keycloak best used for?
Keycloak is most often used for organisations requiring self-hosted identity infrastructure for compliance or data residency, companies with existing ldap/active directory systems needing federated authentication, open-source projects and communities requiring free iam without licensing costs, enterprises building custom identity workflows requiring fine-grained authorisation. Of those, organisations requiring self-hosted identity infrastructure for compliance or data residency and companies with existing ldap/active directory systems needing federated authentication are not what Rill Data is typically brought in for.
What can Keycloak do that Rill Data cannot?
Rill Data covers Local development, Dashboards as code, Embedded DuckDB, Bring your own database.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Keycloak: What protocols does Keycloak support?

Keycloak supports OpenID Connect, OAuth 2.0 and SAML 2.0 protocols for authentication and authorisation.

Source
Rill Data: Is Rill open source?

The Rill developer binary is open source and free to run locally; Rill Cloud is the paid product.

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.

Source
Rill Data: How much does it actually cost?

Seats start at 20 USD per month, but hosted compute at 0.15 USD per compute unit hour typically dominates the bill. Bringing your own database removes the usage fee.

Keycloak: Is Keycloak free?

Yes. Keycloak is fully open-source and free to deploy and use. No licensing fees are required.

Source
Rill Data: Can business users build dashboards?

Not directly. Dashboards are YAML and SQL under version control.

Rill Data: Which databases can back a deployed project?

DuckDB, ClickHouse, Druid, Pinot, Snowflake and others.

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