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JSON Web Token vs Keycloak: What are the differences?

Both JWT and Keycloak are technologies used in web development for authentication and authorization purposes. Let's explore the key differences between them.

  1. Scalability: One key difference between JWT and Keycloak lies in their scalability. JWT is a lightweight and stateless authentication protocol that can be easily implemented and used with different programming languages and frameworks. It is suitable for small to medium-sized applications where scalability is not a major concern. On the other hand, Keycloak is a more robust and feature-rich identity and access management system that provides centralized authentication and authorization services. It offers features like user management, single sign-on, and social login integration, making it suitable for large-scale applications with complex security requirements.

  2. Token Generation and Authentication: JWT is a token-based authentication protocol where a JSON-encoded token is generated by the server and sent to the client. The client includes this token in subsequent requests to authenticate itself with the server. The server verifies the token's integrity by checking its digital signature, ensuring that it has not been tampered with. Keycloak, on the other hand, uses a session-based authentication approach. When a user logs in, Keycloak generates a session cookie that is stored on the client-side. This cookie is sent along with every request to the server, allowing Keycloak to authenticate the user based on the session information stored on the server.

  3. User Management: Keycloak offers comprehensive user management capabilities, allowing administrators to create, manage, and authenticate users. It provides features like user registration, password reset, and user role management out of the box. JWT, on the other hand, does not provide built-in user management functionality. It is primarily a mechanism for securely transmitting authentication and authorization data between parties. User management needs to be implemented separately when using JWT.

  4. Integration and Compatibility: JWT is a standard-based protocol and can be easily integrated into existing applications and systems. It is widely supported by various programming languages and frameworks, making it a popular choice for cross-platform development. Keycloak, while also compatible with standard protocols like OpenID Connect and SAML, requires additional setup and configuration to integrate with existing applications. It provides its own user interface and APIs for managing authentication and authorization, which may require more effort to integrate into existing systems.

  5. Security Features: Keycloak provides additional security features like two-factor authentication, brute-force protection, and fine-grained access control policies. It allows administrators to define complex security rules based on user roles, groups, and attributes. JWT, being a lightweight protocol, does not provide these advanced security features natively. Security measures like two-factor authentication and access control policies need to be implemented separately in the application when using JWT.

  6. Deployment Options: Keycloak can be deployed as a stand-alone identity server or integrated into existing applications as a library. It provides options for high availability and clustering to ensure scalability and fault tolerance. JWT, on the other hand, can be easily integrated into any application or service that supports the JSON format. It does not require any specific deployment options and can be used with different architectures, including microservices and serverless environments.

In summary, JWT offers a lightweight and decentralized approach to authentication, suitable for scenarios where simplicity and scalability are priorities, while Keycloak provides a comprehensive IAM solution with features like user federation, role-based access control, and social login integration, ideal for applications requiring robust identity management capabilities.

Advice on JSON Web Token and Keycloak
Needs advice
on
KeycloakKeycloakOktaOkta
and
Spring SecuritySpring Security

I am working on building a platform in my company that will provide a single sign on to all of the internal products to the customer. To do that we need to build an Authorisation server to comply with the OIDC protocol. Earlier we had built the Auth server using the Spring Security OAuth project but since in Spring Security 5.x it is no longer supported we are planning to get over with it as well. Below are the 2 options that I was considering to replace the Spring Auth Server. 1. Keycloak 2. Okta 3. Auth0 Please advise which one to use.

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Replies (3)
Luca Ferrari
Solution Architect at Red Hat, Inc. · | 5 upvotes · 201.9K views
Recommends
on
KeycloakKeycloak

It isn't clear if beside the AuthZ requirement you had others, but given the scenario you described my suggestion would for you to go with Keycloak. First of all because you have already an onpremise IdP and with Keycloak you could maintain that setup (if privacy is a concern). Another important point is configuration and customization: I would assume with Spring OAuth you might have had some custom logic around authentication, this can be easily reconfigured in Keycloak by leveraging SPI (https://www.keycloak.org/docs/latest/server_development/index.html#_auth_spi). Finally AuthZ as a functionality is well developed, based on standard protocols and extensible on Keycloak (https://www.keycloak.org/docs/latest/authorization_services/)

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Sandor Racz
Recommends
on
KeycloakKeycloak

We have good experience using Keycloak for SSO with OIDC with our Spring Boot based applications. It's free, easy to install and configure, extensible - so I recommend it.

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Recommends
on
KeycloakKeycloak

You can also use Keycloak as an Identity Broker, which enables you to handle authentication on many different identity providers of your customers. With this setup, you are able to perform authorization tasks centralized.

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Pros of JSON Web Token
Pros of Keycloak
    Be the first to leave a pro
    • 33
      It's a open source solution
    • 24
      Supports multiple identity provider
    • 17
      OpenID and SAML support
    • 12
      Easy customisation
    • 10
      JSON web token
    • 6
      Maintained by devs at Redhat

    Sign up to add or upvote prosMake informed product decisions

    Cons of JSON Web Token
    Cons of Keycloak
      Be the first to leave a con
      • 7
        Okta
      • 6
        Poor client side documentation
      • 5
        Lack of Code examples for client side

      Sign up to add or upvote consMake informed product decisions

      - No public GitHub repository available -

      What is JSON Web Token?

      JSON Web Token is an open standard that defines a compact and self-contained way for securely transmitting information between parties as a JSON object. This information can be verified and trusted because it is digitally signed.

      What is Keycloak?

      It is an Open Source Identity and Access Management For Modern Applications and Services. It adds authentication to applications and secure services with minimum fuss. No need to deal with storing users or authenticating users. It's all available out of the box.

      Need advice about which tool to choose?Ask the StackShare community!

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      What tools integrate with JSON Web Token?
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      What are some alternatives to JSON Web Token and Keycloak?
      OAuth2
      It is an authorization framework that enables a third-party application to obtain limited access to an HTTP service, either on behalf of a resource owner by orchestrating an approval interaction between the resource owner and the HTTP service, or by allowing the third-party application to obtain access on its own behalf.
      Passport
      It is authentication middleware for Node.js. Extremely flexible and modular, It can be unobtrusively dropped in to any Express-based web application. A comprehensive set of strategies support authentication using a username and password, Facebook, Twitter, and more.
      Spring Security
      It is a framework that focuses on providing both authentication and authorization to Java applications. The real power of Spring Security is found in how easily it can be extended to meet custom requirements.
      Auth0
      A set of unified APIs and tools that instantly enables Single Sign On and user management to all your applications.
      Azure Active Directory
      It is a comprehensive identity and access management solution that gives you a robust set of capabilities to manage users and groups. You can get the reliability and scalability you need with identity services that work with your on-premises, cloud, or hybrid environment.
      See all alternatives