Keycloak vs Neon
The ultimate side-by-side head-to-head analysis for 2026.
Short answer
- Price: not directly comparable — Keycloak is free, Neon is free tier available.
- How to start: Keycloak is free, Neon is free tier available.
These lines are generated from the pricing we track, not from a paid placement. We do not publish a quality score, because we do not have one we can stand behind. They cannot tell you which tool fits your workflow — the sections below are there for that. How we score tools.
Keycloak
Neon
Category
Developer Tools
Developer Tools
Base Price
Free
Free tier
Public API
Yes
Yes
Mobile app
No
No
Open source / self-hostable
Yes
Yes
SSO (SAML)
Yes
Yes
Choose Keycloak if:
Organisations that need enterprise identity without a per-user bill.
Choose Neon if:
Teams building on Postgres who want per-branch databases and low idle cost.
Keycloak: pros & cons
- Full identity server at no licence cost
- Standards support including SAML and OIDC
- Complete control over user data
- Operating it is a real responsibility
- Administration console is dense
- Upgrades need care
Neon: pros & cons
- Real Postgres, not a lookalike
- Branching for preview environments
- Scales to zero, so idle projects cost little
- Cold starts on idle databases
- Newer platform than the incumbents
- Advanced tuning is limited compared with self-managed Postgres
Our verdict on Keycloak
The serious open-source answer to Auth0. Budget for the operations, because the licence saving is not free.
Our verdict on Neon
An easy recommendation for preview-heavy workflows. For a steady high-traffic production database, compare cost against a traditional managed instance.