Developer Tools · head to head
Keycloak vs Semperis
Keycloak
Developer Tools
Open-source identity and access management server.
- From
- Free
- Free plan
- Yes
Semperis
Cybersecurity
Identity threat detection and Active Directory forest recovery for AD, Entra ID and Okta, from a privately held US vendor.
- From
- On request
- Free plan
- No
The short version
- Only Keycloak has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
- Each has a real cost: Keycloak requires self-hosted deployment and operational expertise to install, configure and maintain; Semperis scope is limited to Active Directory, Entra ID and Okta, so an organisation whose critical identity lives elsewhere gets little from it, and the recovery value declines in direct proportion to how much has already moved off on-premises AD.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Keycloak and Semperis actually diverge.
Identical on both: 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 Keycloak
Nothing recorded that Semperis does not also cover.
Only in Semperis
- Active Directory Forest Recovery
- Malware-free restore
- Replication-stream monitoring
- Automated rollback
- Attack indicator scoring
- Entra ID and Okta coverage
- Purple Knight
- Forest Druid
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 Semperis
- Companies with existing LDAP/Active Directory systems needing federated authenticationnot Semperis
- Open-source projects and communities requiring free IAM without licensing costsnot Semperis
- Enterprises building custom identity workflows requiring fine-grained authorisationnot Semperis
- Teams with sufficient operational expertise to manage infrastructurenot Semperis
Semperis
- An organisation that cannot answer an auditor or insurer asking how long it would take to rebuild Active Directory after a destructive attacknot Keycloak
- Post-incident recovery where domain controllers are compromised and restoring from system-state backup would reintroduce the attacker's footholdnot Keycloak
- Continuous detection of privileged group changes and directory-level tampering that domain controller security logs missnot Keycloak
- Hybrid estates where AD, Entra ID and Okta all matter and no single tool currently shows changes across the threenot 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
Semperis
- Scope is limited to Active Directory, Entra ID and Okta, so an organisation whose critical identity lives elsewhere gets little from it, and the recovery value declines in direct proportion to how much has already moved off on-premises AD.
- The licence buys tooling, not a proven runbook: forest recovery is only worth what your last rehearsal demonstrated, and a plan that has never been executed end to end in a lab is an untested assumption regardless of what was purchased.
- It overlaps with backup and directory management products from Quest, Veeam, Commvault and others, so the buyer must argue internally why a dedicated product is needed alongside a backup contract that already claims to protect Active Directory.
- Running Directory Services Protector well requires someone who understands AD internals, replication metadata and Tier 0 attack paths, and without that person the alerts on privileged changes are either ignored or auto-reverted in ways that break legitimate administration.
- Licensing is driven by identity object counts, so directories carrying years of stale user accounts and service principals pay for objects that should have been deleted, and the cleanup project that would reduce the bill is the one nobody has time for.
Pricing, plan by plan
Keycloak
Free- Open-sourceFree
- Full platform functionality
- Self-hosted deployment
- Community support
Semperis
On requestNo published plan breakdown. See the Semperis review.
Which should you pick?
Choose Keycloak if
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Self-hosted, Docker, Kubernetes, Linux, Windows, API.
Choose Semperis if
- You need active directory forest recovery.
- You also want malware-free restore.
Questions people ask
- Is Keycloak or Semperis better?
- Neither clearly leads. Keycloak starts at Free and Semperis at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Keycloak or Semperis?
- Keycloak has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Keycloak and On request for Semperis.
- Does Keycloak or Semperis run on more platforms?
- Keycloak runs on Self-hosted, Docker, Kubernetes, Linux, Windows, API. Semperis runs on Web.
- Can I use Keycloak for free?
- Yes. Keycloak has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Semperis starts at On request.
- 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 Semperis is typically brought in for.
- What can Keycloak do that Semperis cannot?
- Semperis covers Active Directory Forest Recovery, Malware-free restore, Replication-stream monitoring, Automated rollback.
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.
SourceSemperis: Does this replace my backups?
No. It replaces the Active Directory recovery procedure specifically. You still need backups for everything else, and the point of Semperis is that a generic system-state backup of a domain controller is a poor way to recover a forest because it restores the operating system along with whatever compromised it.
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.
SourceSemperis: Is it useful if we are cloud-only on Entra ID?
Partly. Directory Services Protector covers Entra ID and Okta for change tracking and posture, but the forest recovery product, which is the strongest reason to buy, applies to on-premises Active Directory. A genuinely cloud-only organisation should weigh it against Microsoft's own tooling.
Keycloak: Is Keycloak free?
Yes. Keycloak is fully open-source and free to deploy and use. No licensing fees are required.
SourceSemperis: Are Purple Knight and Forest Druid really free?
Yes, both are free downloads with no licence requirement, and they are widely used by organisations that are not Semperis customers. They are also, transparently, the top of the sales funnel.
Semperis: How long does forest recovery actually take?
The honest answer is whatever your rehearsal took. The vendor's case is hours instead of days, and automation genuinely removes most manual steps, but the number that matters for your board is the one from a test in your own environment.
Semperis: Does it require agents on domain controllers?
It collects directory changes from the AD replication stream, which is what lets it see changes that bypass the security log. Deployment details vary by product and version, so confirm the exact architecture against your domain controller change-control rules.
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