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Why your startup should use Keycloak for SSO and User Management - Part 3: Customization

· 5 min read
Phase Two
Phase Two
Hosted Keycloak and Keycloak Support
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In this series we are proposing Keycloak as a superior alternative to commercial identity offerings.

Part 3: Customizability for Tailored Solutions: Why Keycloak Stands Out​

One size rarely fits all, especially in the world of enterprise software. Startups require flexibility to adapt and tailor IAM solutions to their unique business requirements. Keycloak shines in this aspect, offering extensive customization capabilities that empower startups to mold the platform according to their specific needs.

From branding and user interface customization to advanced authentication flows and authorization policies, Keycloak provides a comprehensive toolkit for startups to craft seamless and secure user experiences. Whether integrating with existing systems or building entirely new functionalities, Keycloak's flexibility ensures a perfect fit for any enterprise SaaS startup. Here’s how Keycloak’s flexibility stands apart from commercial, closed-source solutions, and why this is a key differentiator:

  1. Flexible Authentication and Authorization Flows: Keycloak supports a broad range of authentication flows out of the box, including standard Single Sign-On (SSO), multi-factor authentication (MFA), and custom flows that can incorporate additional security checks or personalized user experiences. Through its flexible Authentication Flow configuration, Keycloak allows you to define step-by-step authentication processes, integrating custom forms, conditional checks, and required actions. This customization ensures that security and compliance requirements can be met without compromising on user experience.

  2. Adaptable User Interfaces and Branding: The user experience is a major part of identity management. Keycloak makes it easy to customize login pages, consent screens, and other interfaces to align with your brand’s look and feel. You can alter these templates by modifying Keycloak’s HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files, enabling seamless brand integration and a cohesive customer experience. Closed-source solutions, by contrast, often provide limited UI customization options, restricting the degree to which you can personalize the user experience.

  3. Modular Extensions with Service Provider Interfaces (SPIs): Keycloak’s modular architecture is built to support extensive custom extensions via Service Provider Interfaces (SPIs). SPIs are essentially integration points that allow developers to replace or enhance Keycloak’s default behavior. For instance, if you need a unique authentication method, such as biometric authentication or a custom identity provider integration, you can build and plug in your own SPI modules. This extensibility offers startups the freedom to experiment, innovate, and introduce unique capabilities not available in off-the-shelf commercial IAM solutions.

  4. Seamless Integration with Existing Systems: Because it is open source, Keycloak is highly compatible with various enterprise ecosystems and can be deeply integrated with existing IT infrastructure and applications. Keycloak’s ability to connect with external identity providers, databases, custom authentication mechanisms, and business systems allows startups to create a seamless experience for users who may be interacting with multiple applications. This integration potential extends to support for protocols such as LDAP, Active Directory, SAML, and OIDC, making it possible to incorporate Keycloak into hybrid and legacy environments with minimal friction.

  5. API-Driven Customization and Developer-Friendly Environment: Keycloak’s comprehensive APIs and developer-friendly tooling make it an ideal choice for startups that value agility and the ability to innovate quickly. Through Keycloak’s REST APIs, developers can programmatically manage users, sessions, roles, permissions, and more. This API-driven approach allows startups to automate IAM workflows, create custom dashboards, or extend functionalities as business needs evolve. In a closed-source solution, API access may be limited or gated behind premium licensing tiers, restricting the organization’s ability to fully integrate IAM within its applications.

  6. Open Source Freedom and Community-Driven Innovation: Keycloak’s open-source nature provides the ultimate freedom to customize, extend, and experiment without limitations. The active Keycloak community continuously contributes new features, plugins, and enhancements, making it possible to stay on the cutting edge of IAM innovation. Startups benefit not only from this community-driven innovation but also from the ability to create proprietary modifications or custom forks of Keycloak to meet unique requirements—a level of freedom and flexibility typically unavailable with commercial IAM providers.

Why Customizability Matters in Comparison to Closed-Source Solutions​

In contrast, commercial IAM solutions like Auth0 or WorkOS often limit customization to predefined configuration options. These providers typically restrict access to source code and SPIs, which can prevent organizations from fully adapting the IAM solution to fit unique workflows, branding requirements, or security demands. Additionally, while some commercial IAM providers offer custom integrations or enhanced features, these are often gated behind higher-tier pricing plans, increasing costs as startups scale.

The flexibility Keycloak offers through customization allows startups to truly own their IAM strategy, aligning it directly with their brand identity, security protocols, and business objectives. By choosing Keycloak, startups retain the freedom to innovate at every layer of the IAM process, without being constrained by the limitations or financial restrictions imposed by closed-source, SaaS-based IAM providers.

For your extension needs, Phase Two provides the ability to load custom themes and extensions for customers at the Enterprise level. Please contact sales@phasetwo.io for more information about how to benefit from our hosting platform while customizing Keycloak to your specific needs.

Read Part 4: Cost now

Get in touch at sales@phasetwo.io to learn more.