Keycloak vs Microsoft Entra ID
Which one do AI engines recommend, and how do they differ on price, fit and features?
The short answer
Microsoft Entra ID is the stronger AI pick in Identity & Access Management: it has a visibility score of 66 versus 5.6 for Keycloak, and ranks ahead in 63% of the answers that name both.
Choose Keycloak if…
- Free and open-source software
- Strong flexibility and customization for technical teams
- Top pick as a self-hosted option
- Backed by Red Hat and community; popular open-source IAM tool
Choose Microsoft Entra ID if…
- You want the brand AI engines rank higher (66 vs 5.6)
- AI answers describe it more positively (45% vs 33% positive)
- Native integration with Microsoft 365 and Azure ecosystems
- Cost-effective fit for organizations already paying for Microsoft 365
AI visibility side by side
Latest weekly run · Nov 3
| Metric | Keycloak | Microsoft Entra ID |
|---|---|---|
| Visibility score | 5.6% | 66% |
| Change vs last week | down−0.3% | up+5.2% |
| Rank in Identity & Access Management | #15 | #1 |
| Share of voice | 2.1% | 12.9% |
| Mentions this run | 7 | 40 |
| Positive in AI answers | 33% | 45% |
The stronger value in each row is marked with a ✓.
Visibility score trend
Weekly runs over the last 60 days
Keycloak −0.7000000000000002pp · Microsoft Entra ID +5.100000000000001pp over 1 weekly runs.
Engine by engine
Microsoft Entra ID leads on 3 of 3 engines
Head to head in AI answers
8 engine answers name both brands
| Prompt | Engine | Keycloak | Microsoft Entra ID |
|---|---|---|---|
| What are the best Identity & Access Management tools in 2026? | Perplexity | #8 | #1 |
| Top identity and access management platform options for B2B SaaS companies | Perplexity | #7 | #10 |
| Best identity and access management platform for startups | Perplexity | #6 | #3 |
| Alternatives to the most popular identity and access management platform | Perplexity | #8 | #2 |
| Most affordable identity and access management platform that is still reliable | Perplexity | #5 | #1 |
| Is there a free identity and access management platform for small teams? | ChatGPT | #2 | #4 |
| Is there a free identity and access management platform for small teams? | AI Mode | #2 | #4 |
| Is there a free identity and access management platform for small teams? | Perplexity | #4 | #2 |
Features, pricing & fit
| Dimension | Keycloak | Microsoft Entra ID |
|---|---|---|
| Deployment | Self-hosted; ships as a single lightweight container image, with clustering for scalability and availability | Cloud |
| Support | Community support via GitHub Discussions, Commercial support via Red Hat build of Keycloak | — |
| Founded | 2014 | 2008 |
| Best for | Teams that want to self-host standards-based single sign-on and identity brokering for their applications | — |
Pros and cons
Themes from the AI answers that mention each brand
Keycloak
- Free and open-source software
- Strong flexibility and customization for technical teams
- Top pick as a self-hosted option
- Backed by Red Hat and community; popular open-source IAM tool
- Supports SAML, OAuth 2.0, and OpenID Connect
- Team must handle hosting, upgrades, backups, and security
- Less operational simplicity than managed alternatives
Microsoft Entra ID
- Native integration with Microsoft 365 and Azure ecosystems
- Cost-effective fit for organizations already paying for Microsoft 365
- Strong workforce IAM with SSO, MFA and passwordless access
- Top-ranked and recognised as a Leader among IAM providers
- Strong for enterprise identity governance and hybrid environments
- Advanced add-ons carry extra yearly paid subscription costs
- Advanced features such as Conditional Access require paid tiers
Data collected ·ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Mode·coverage 98.8%·next run
Cite as: SlateIndex, “Keycloak vs Microsoft Entra ID”, https://slateindex.ai/compare/keycloak-vs-microsoft-entra-id, data of Nov 3, 2026. Licence: CC BY 4.0.