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Cybersecurity · head to head

Ory Kratos vs Ray

Ory Kratos logo

Ory Kratos

Cybersecurity

Headless identity and user management API

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Ray logo

Ray

Machine Learning

Scale AI and Python applications

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Ory Kratos headless means you build every screen, which is significant work compared with a hosted login page; Ray windows support is beta and multi node Ray clusters are untested on Windows
  • They diverge on capability: Ory Kratos covers Headless API, Ray covers Distributed computing.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Ory Kratos and Ray actually diverge.

Attributes where Ory Kratos and Ray differ
AttributeOry KratosRay
Pricing modelOpen-source self-hosted, with a paid managed networkfreemium
PlatformsLinux, Docker, Kubernetes, Self-hostedLinux, Mac, Windows
CategoryCybersecurityMachine Learning
FoundedUnknown2019

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 Ory Kratos

  • Headless API
  • Self-service flows
  • Multi-factor authentication
  • Pluggable identity schemas

Only in Ray

  • Distributed computing
  • Ray Train
  • Ray Tune
  • RLlib
  • Ray Serve
  • PyTorch
  • TensorFlow
  • Hugging Face

What people use each for

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

Ory Kratos

  • Products needing complete control over the look and flow of authenticationnot Ray
  • Applications that must not hand user identity data to a third partynot Ray
  • Teams building identity as infrastructure across several servicesnot Ray

Ray

  • Distributed AI model training and servingnot Ory Kratos
  • Large-scale data processingnot Ory Kratos
  • Reinforcement learning workloadsnot Ory Kratos
  • ML inference servingnot Ory Kratos

Where each one falls short

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

Ory Kratos

  • Headless means you build every screen, which is significant work compared with a hosted login page
  • More moving parts than a monolithic IAM: Kratos handles identity, and OAuth2 needs Ory Hydra alongside
  • Documentation assumes real familiarity with identity concepts and is not a gentle introduction
  • Self-hosting identity carries the security and availability burden that hosted providers absorb

Ray

  • Windows support is beta and multi node Ray clusters are untested on Windows
  • Windows lacks copy on write forking, which raises memory requirements, and Ray code assumes UNIX filenames
  • Multi node clusters are untested on Apple Silicon Macs
  • The Java API is experimental and community supported only, and requires matching Java and Python versions
  • Python 3.13 support is beta

Pricing, plan by plan

Ory Kratos

Free
  • Self-hostedFree
    • Full identity server
    • All flows
    • Community support

Ray

Free
  • Open SourceFree
    • Full Ray framework
    • All libraries
    • Community support
  • Anyscale PlatformFree
    • Managed infrastructure
    • Enterprise support
    • SLAs

Which should you pick?

Choose Ory Kratos if

  • You need headless api.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, Self-hosted.
  • You also want self-service flows.
Ory Kratos review

Choose Ray if

  • You need distributed computing.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, Mac, Windows.
  • You also want ray train.
Ray review

Questions people ask

Is Ory Kratos or Ray better?
Neither clearly leads. Ory Kratos starts at Free and Ray at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Ory Kratos or Ray?
Ory Kratos starts at Free and Ray at Free.
Does Ory Kratos or Ray run on more platforms?
Ory Kratos runs on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, Self-hosted. Ray runs on Linux, Mac, Windows.
Can I use Ory Kratos for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Ory Kratos best used for?
Ory Kratos is most often used for products needing complete control over the look and flow of authentication, applications that must not hand user identity data to a third party, teams building identity as infrastructure across several services. Of those, products needing complete control over the look and flow of authentication and applications that must not hand user identity data to a third party are not what Ray is typically brought in for.
What can Ory Kratos do that Ray cannot?
Ory Kratos covers Headless API, Self-service flows, Multi-factor authentication, Pluggable identity schemas. Ray covers Distributed computing, Ray Train, Ray Tune, RLlib.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Ory Kratos: Is Ory Kratos free?

Yes, open source and free to self-host. Ory Network is a paid managed service.

Ray: Is Ray free?

Yes. Ray is free and open source software with over 34,800 GitHub stars and 1,000+ contributors. Users can download and use the Ray framework at no cost.

Source
Ory Kratos: What does headless mean here?

Kratos provides identity flows as APIs and no user interface. You build the login, registration and recovery screens yourself.

Ray: Is there a paid option for Ray?

Yes. Anyscale, the managed platform built by Ray's creators, offers paid tiers with enterprise features like governance and advanced tooling. Specific Anyscale pricing details are not listed on the Ray website.

Source
Ory Kratos: Does Kratos do OAuth2?

No. Kratos handles user identity; OAuth2 and OpenID Connect provider functionality is Ory Hydra, a separate component.

Ray: Can I try Ray with credits?

Yes. New users can try Ray with $100 credit on Anyscale's managed platform to explore the service.

Source
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