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Developer Tools · head to head

Keycloak vs RisingWave

Keycloak logo

Keycloak

Developer Tools

Open-source identity and access management server.

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Visit KeycloakFull review
RisingWave logo

RisingWave

Databases

Streaming database that maintains incremental materialised views in SQL instead of Flink jobs

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Visit RisingWaveFull review

The short version

  • Keycloak is an open-source IAM platform supporting OpenID Connect, OAuth 2.
  • Keycloak is free; RisingWave starts at $0.227/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 RisingWave actually diverge.

Attributes where Keycloak and RisingWave differ
AttributeKeycloakRisingWave
Pricing modelOpen-sourcePer RisingWave Unit hour
PlatformsSelf-hosted, Linux, Windows, APILinux, Self-hosted, Web
CategoryDeveloper ToolsDatabases

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes).

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 RisingWave does not also cover.

Only in RisingWave

  • SQL materialised views
  • Postgres wire compatibility
  • Object storage state
  • Source connectors
  • Sink connectors
  • Iceberg tables
  • Watermarks and windowing
  • User defined functions

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 RisingWave
  • Companies with existing LDAP/Active Directory systems needing federated authenticationnot RisingWave
  • Open-source projects and communities requiring free IAM without licensing costsnot RisingWave
  • Enterprises building custom identity workflows requiring fine-grained authorisationnot RisingWave
  • Teams with sufficient operational expertise to manage infrastructurenot RisingWave

RisingWave

  • A team with Kafka topics that needs continuously fresh aggregates for a dashboard without standing up a Flink clusternot Keycloak
  • A fraud or risk team maintaining rolling counters and joins across event streams expressed as SQL viewsnot Keycloak
  • A company doing Postgres CDC into a real-time denormalised view for search or servingnot Keycloak
  • An analytics group that wants streaming results landed directly into Apache Iceberg without a separate writer jobnot 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

RisingWave

  • Anything that does not fit SQL, such as custom windowing, complex event processing or heavy stateful logic, still needs Flink, so RisingWave often adds a system rather than removing one
  • The Apache 2.0 community edition excludes premium features behind a licence key, and which capabilities sit on which side of that line moves between releases, so a self-hosted plan can be invalidated by an upgrade
  • Long-running materialised views accumulate state in object storage, and cost and recovery time grow with retention in ways that are hard to forecast before you are in production
  • The Postgres compatibility is protocol level; it is not a transactional Postgres and using it as a general purpose database, with point updates or high write concurrency, goes badly
  • It is a comparatively young venture-funded project competing with Flink, Materialize and warehouse-native streaming, and the ecosystem of connectors, operators and third-party expertise is much thinner

Pricing, plan by plan

Keycloak

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

RisingWave

Free
  • Community EditionFree
    • Apache 2.0 licence, self-hosted
    • Core streaming engine and connectors
    • Premium features excluded and require a licence key
  • Cloud Basic$0.227/hour
    • Billed per RisingWave Unit hour
    • Hosted on AWS, GCP or Azure
    • Capped at 64 cores
  • Cloud ProOn request
    • No core limit
    • Bring your own cloud option
    • Premium features included
  • Self-managed EnterpriseOn request
    • On premises or Kubernetes
    • Premium features unlocked by licence
    • Annual contract with SLA

Which should you pick?

Choose Keycloak if

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

Choose RisingWave if

  • You need sql materialised views.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, Self-hosted, Web.
  • You also want postgres wire compatibility.
RisingWave review

Questions people ask

Is Keycloak or RisingWave better?
Neither clearly leads. Keycloak starts at Free and RisingWave at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Keycloak or RisingWave?
Keycloak starts at Free and RisingWave at Free.
Does Keycloak or RisingWave run on more platforms?
Keycloak runs on Self-hosted, Linux, Windows, API. RisingWave runs on Linux, Self-hosted, Web.
Can I use Keycloak for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
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 RisingWave is typically brought in for.
What can Keycloak do that RisingWave cannot?
RisingWave covers SQL materialised views, Postgres wire compatibility, Object storage state, Source connectors.

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
RisingWave: Is RisingWave open source?

The community edition is Apache 2.0 and self-hostable, but a set of premium features requires a paid licence key.

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
RisingWave: What does the cloud cost?

It starts at 0.227 US dollars per RisingWave Unit hour on the Basic tier, which is capped at 64 cores.

Keycloak: Is Keycloak free?

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

Source
RisingWave: Does it replace Flink?

For SQL-expressible transformations, often yes. For custom stateful processing and complex event handling, no.

RisingWave: Can I query it like Postgres?

Yes over the Postgres wire protocol, but it is an analytical streaming engine, not a transactional database.

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