Is Ory or PocketBase better?

Neither clearly leads. Ory starts at Free and PocketBase at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.

Which is cheaper, Ory or PocketBase?

Ory starts at Free and PocketBase at Free.

Does Ory or PocketBase run on more platforms?

Ory runs on web, api. PocketBase runs on Linux, Windows, macOS, FreeBSD.

Can I use Ory for free?

Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.

What is Ory best used for?

Ory is most often used for adding self-hosted or cloud identity to a new product, implementing fine-grained permission checks, supporting b2b organizations and multi-tenancy, building machine-to-machine authentication for microservices. Of those, adding self-hosted or cloud identity to a new product and implementing fine-grained permission checks are not what PocketBase is typically brought in for.

What can Ory do that PocketBase cannot?

Ory covers Authentication APIs, Permissions engine, Machine-to-machine tokens, B2B organizations. PocketBase covers REST API, Real-time subscriptions, Admin UI, SQLite.

Identity & Access Management · head to head

Ory vs PocketBase

Ory

Identity & Access Management

Open-source identity, authentication, and permissions infrastructure

From: Free
Rated: -

Full review Website

PocketBase

API Management

Open-source backend with REST API, real-time subscriptions and Admin UI

From: Free
Rated: -

Full review Website

The short version

Each has a real cost: Ory production and Growth plans are billed annually ($770/year and $9,350/year), which is a larger upfront commitment than monthly-only competitors.; PocketBase not recommended for production critical applications until reaching v1.0.0
They diverge on capability: Ory covers Authentication APIs, PocketBase covers REST API.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Ory and PocketBase actually diverge.

Attributes where Ory and PocketBase differ
Attribute	Ory	PocketBase
Pricing model	usage-based	Unknown
Platforms	web, api	Linux, Windows, macOS, FreeBSD
Category	Identity & Access Management	API Management
Founded	Unknown	2021

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

Authentication APIs
Permissions engine
Machine-to-machine tokens
B2B organizations
SAML SSO
Multi-region deployments

Only in PocketBase

REST API
Real-time subscriptions
Admin UI
SQLite
Webhooks
File storage
Go support
Docker support

What people use each for

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

Ory

Adding self-hosted or cloud identity to a new productnot PocketBase
Implementing fine-grained permission checksnot PocketBase
Supporting B2B organizations and multi-tenancynot PocketBase
Building machine-to-machine authentication for microservicesnot PocketBase

PocketBase

Embedded realtime database with REST APInot Ory
Backend-as-a-service for single-file deploymentsnot Ory
Rapid application development with email/OAuth2 authenticationnot Ory
File storage and media attachment managementnot Ory
Lightweight alternative to Firebase or traditional backend infrastructurenot Ory
Go and JavaScript customisable application frameworknot Ory

Where each one falls short

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

Ory

Production and Growth plans are billed annually ($770/year and $9,350/year), which is a larger upfront commitment than monthly-only competitors.
SAML SSO and multi-region deployments are reserved for the custom-priced Enterprise tier.
Usage-based pricing across aDAU, M2M tokens, and permission checks makes cost estimation more complex than flat per-MAU billing.

PocketBase

Not recommended for production critical applications until reaching v1.0.0
Full backward compatibility not guaranteed before v1.0.0 (breaking changes possible with version updates)
Pull requests for new features are disabled due to spam concerns (feature contributions limited)

Pricing, plan by plan

Ory

Free

DeveloperFree
- Community support
- No production environments
Production$64/month
- $21 monthly credit included
- 1 production environment
- 3 staging environments
Growth$779/month
- $255 monthly credit included
- 2 production environments
- B2B organizations (max 3)

PocketBase

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the PocketBase review.

Which should you pick?

Choose Ory if

You need authentication apis.
You want to start without paying.
You work on web, api.
You also want permissions engine.

Ory review

Choose PocketBase if

You need rest api.
You want to start without paying.
You work on Linux, Windows, macOS, FreeBSD.
You also want real-time subscriptions.

PocketBase review

Questions people ask

Is Ory or PocketBase better?: Neither clearly leads. Ory starts at Free and PocketBase at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Ory or PocketBase?: Ory starts at Free and PocketBase at Free.
Does Ory or PocketBase run on more platforms?: Ory runs on web, api. PocketBase runs on Linux, Windows, macOS, FreeBSD.
Can I use Ory for free?: Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Ory best used for?: Ory is most often used for adding self-hosted or cloud identity to a new product, implementing fine-grained permission checks, supporting b2b organizations and multi-tenancy, building machine-to-machine authentication for microservices. Of those, adding self-hosted or cloud identity to a new product and implementing fine-grained permission checks are not what PocketBase is typically brought in for.
What can Ory do that PocketBase cannot?: Ory covers Authentication APIs, Permissions engine, Machine-to-machine tokens, B2B organizations. PocketBase covers REST API, Real-time subscriptions, Admin UI, SQLite.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Ory: What does Ory cost?

Ory has a free Developer tier, a Production plan at $770/year including a $21 monthly credit, a Growth plan at $9,350/year including a $255 monthly credit, and custom Enterprise pricing.

Source

Ory: How is usage metered?

Beyond the included credit, Ory charges per average daily active user (aDAU), per machine-to-machine token, and per permission check, with lower per-unit rates on the Growth plan.

Source

Ory: What payment methods are supported?

Ory accepts credit cards (Visa, MasterCard, Amex) and bank transfer, processed via Stripe.

Source

Ory vs PocketBase

Ory

PocketBase

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in Ory

Only in PocketBase

What people use each for

Ory

PocketBase

Where each one falls short

Ory

PocketBase

Pricing, plan by plan

Ory

PocketBase

Which should you pick?

Choose Ory if

Choose PocketBase if

Questions people ask

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Related pages

More on Ory

More on PocketBase

Keep looking

Other head to heads