OpenFGA vs AuthZed (SpiceDB)
Side-by-side comparison of identity tools. Sponsored placement is disclosed where applicable.
Quick answer
OpenFGA vs AuthZed (SpiceDB): which should you choose?
Short answer
OpenFGA vs AuthZed (SpiceDB) 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
- OpenFGA: Product engineering teams building multi-tenant SaaS with document-sharing, folder-hierarchy or org/team permission models who want a self-hostable Zanzibar-style engine with a vendor-neutral foundation home. · AuthZed (SpiceDB): Product engineering teams building fine-grained, relationship-based permissions (sharing, hierarchies, multi-tenant B2B) at scale who want Zanzibar semantics without building them.
- 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
- OpenFGAAuthZed (SpiceDB)IAM Stack FinderBuyer resources
| Attribute | ||
|---|---|---|
| Best for | Product engineering teams building multi-tenant SaaS with document-sharing, folder-hierarchy or org/team permission models who want a self-hostable Zanzibar-style engine with a vendor-neutral foundation home. | Product engineering teams building fine-grained, relationship-based permissions (sharing, hierarchies, multi-tenant B2B) at scale who want Zanzibar semantics without building them. |
| Short description | OpenFGA is an Apache 2.0 authorization engine, inspired by Google's Zanzibar paper, that stores relationship tuples and answers permission checks via gRPC/HTTP APIs. Originally built by Auth0/Okta, it is now a CNCF Incubating project with a hosted Auth0 FGA option. | Maker of SpiceDB, the Apache-2.0 "open source permissions database" inspired by Google Zanzibar, offered self-hosted, as usage-priced AuthZed Cloud, as Dedicated cloud, or as a licensed self-hosted enterprise build. |
| Company size | startup, smb, mid_market, enterprise | startup, smb, mid_market, enterprise |
| Deployment | self_hosted, saas | saas, self_hosted |
| Source | open source | open core |
| Pricing model | free (open source); enterprise quote for hosted Auth0 FGA | usage-based / enterprise |
| Integrations | Go, Node.js, JavaScript, Python, Java, .NET, gRPC, REST | PostgreSQL, CockroachDB, Google Cloud Spanner, MySQL, Kubernetes, gRPC, Go, Node.js |
| Categories | Authorization | Authorization |
| Claimed profile |
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