Aserto (Topaz) vs Oso
Side-by-side comparison of identity tools. Sponsored placement is disclosed where applicable.
Quick answer
Aserto (Topaz) vs Oso: which should you choose?
Short answer
Aserto (Topaz) vs Oso have overlapping use cases in identity and access management. The right pick depends on your company size, deployment model, integrations, and pricing tolerance — compare those attributes side-by-side below.
- Best for
- Aserto (Topaz): Platform or backend teams that want a self-hosted, OPA-compatible authorizer with a Zanzibar-style relationship store and are comfortable operating it without a vendor behind it. · Oso: Product engineering teams at SaaS companies that need fine-grained, multi-model (RBAC/ReBAC/ABAC) authorization across services without building and operating their own policy engine.
- When to choose
- Pick the option whose company-size fit, deployment model, and integrations most closely match your stack.
- When not to choose
- Skip a head-to-head if you haven't shortlisted a category yet — start with the IAM Stack Finder instead.
- Related tools & categories
- Aserto (Topaz)OsoIAM Stack FinderBuyer resources
| Attribute | ||
|---|---|---|
| Best for | Platform or backend teams that want a self-hosted, OPA-compatible authorizer with a Zanzibar-style relationship store and are comfortable operating it without a vendor behind it. | Product engineering teams at SaaS companies that need fine-grained, multi-model (RBAC/ReBAC/ABAC) authorization across services without building and operating their own policy engine. |
| Short description | Aserto built a fine-grained authorization platform around Topaz, an Apache 2.0 authorizer that pairs Open Policy Agent (Rego) with a Zanzibar-style relationship directory. The hosted Aserto Control Plane shut down on 31 May 2025; Topaz continues as a self-hosted open-source project. | Oso Cloud is a managed authorization service where teams model RBAC, ReBAC and ABAC in the Polar language and query it from Node.js, Python, Go, Java, Ruby or .NET SDKs. In 2026 Oso added Oso for Agents, a control product for AI coding agents. |
| Company size | startup, smb, mid_market | startup, mid_market, enterprise |
| Deployment | self_hosted | saas, hybrid, self_hosted |
| Source | open source | commercial |
| Pricing model | free (open source); hosted plans discontinued | free tier + usage-based; enterprise quote |
| Integrations | Go, Node.js, JavaScript, Python, Java, .NET, Ruby, gRPC | Node.js, JavaScript, Python, Go, Java, Ruby, .NET, REST |
| Categories | Authorization | Authorization, AI Agent Identity |
| Claimed profile |
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