ZITADEL
ZITADEL provides an open-source, cloud-native identity and access management platform for developers and mid-market to enterprise organizations. It offers multi-tenant authentication, SSO, RBAC, passkeys, and APIs via managed cloud or self-hosted deployment, with a freemium-to-enterprise revenue model.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2019
- HeadquartersSan Francisco, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What ZITADEL does
ZITADEL is an open-source cloud-native identity and access management (IAM) platform founded in 2019 and headquartered in San Francisco, with a Swiss affiliate (CAOS AG) serving European customers. The company targets developers and mid-market to enterprise organizations that need authentication, authorization, and user management without vendor lock-in. Its core offerings are ZITADEL Cloud (a managed multi-tenant identity service), ZITADEL Open Source (a self-hostable deployment of the same platform), ZITADEL Actions (serverless workflow customization without code deployment), ZITADEL Hosted Login (prebuilt customizable authentication UI), and gRPC/REST APIs with SDKs for Go, Python, React, Angular, Next.js, and Flutter.
Underlying the product is a Go-based architecture with multi-tenancy built at the core (organizations and project grants), prebuilt identity provider templates for Google, Microsoft, and GitHub social logins, passkey/passwordless support, MFA, SAML, OIDC, RBAC, and management of human users, machines, and service accounts. ZITADEL has achieved OpenID Certified, ISO 27001, GDPR, AICPA SOC 2 Type II, and EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework status, and serves customers across 69 countries with 160+ named customers including Klaviyo, Fiddler AI, Groupe Mutuel, Buckaroo, Open Systems, and Planet DDS.
ZITADEL's business model combines a freemium product-led growth motion (free tier and self-serve cloud signup at zitadel.cloud) with an enterprise field-sales motion offering custom quotes, dedicated support, and SLAs. Distribution is anchored by an open-source community of 10,000+ GitHub stars, 250+ contributors, and 2,500+ Discord members, supplemented by technical documentation, comparison content versus Auth0/Keycloak/Firebase, and discovery-call-driven enterprise sales. Total disclosed funding is $11.5M: a $2.5M seed led by Nexus Venture Partners (June 2022) and a $9M Series A led by Nexus Venture Partners with Floodgate (November 2024).
ZITADEL firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- ZITADEL
- Legal name
- Zitadel, Inc.
- Website
- https://zitadel.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2019
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- ZITADEL provides an open-source, cloud-native identity and access management platform for developers and mid-market to enterprise organizations. It offers multi-tenant authentication, SSO, RBAC, passkeys, and APIs via managed cloud or self-hosted deployment, with a freemium-to-enterprise revenue model.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
ZITADEL industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Identity and Access Management
- NAICS
- Software Publishers (5132)
- SIC
- Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Access Management & Policy Enforcement (Authorization, ZTNA integration) (HDAEAJAG)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- User Lifecycle Provisioning & SCIM Automation (HDAEAJAK), Software-Defined Perimeter (SDP) / Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) (HDADABAC)
Keywords
Where ZITADEL is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- San Francisco
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices2 records
Markets served
ZITADEL business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Operations
Revenue model
- Cloud Subscription Service: ZITADEL Cloud provides identity infrastructure as a service with tiered subscription plans. The free tier enables developers to start building, while paid tiers provide additional features, support, and scale for production deployments.
- Enterprise Licensing and Support: Enterprise customers receive dedicated support, custom agreements, and enhanced service level agreements for production deployments.
- Freemium Model: Free tier available for developers to get started, with option to upgrade for production use and enterprise features.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Freemium | Monthly | Free tier for developers |
| Subscription | Annual | Enterprise plans with custom pricing |
Go-to-market motion3 records
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels6 records
ZITADEL product offering
Product offeringCore offering
ZITADEL provides a multi-tenant, API-first identity and access management platform that enables developers to embed authentication, authorization, SSO, MFA, and passkey support directly into applications. The platform is delivered both as a managed cloud service (ZITADEL Cloud) and as a self-hostable open-source project, and supports B2B customer identity via organizations, project grants, and machine/service accounts.
Product overview
ZITADEL offers a cloud-native identity and access management platform available as both a cloud-hosted service (ZITADEL Cloud) and self-hosted solution (ZITADEL Open Source). The platform provides a multi-tenant, API-first architecture with comprehensive SDKs enabling security, compliance, and extensibility. Core offerings include Hosted Login for prebuilt authentication UI, ZITADEL Actions for workflow customization, and gRPC/REST APIs for custom integrations. ZITADEL supports authentication methods including passwordless/passkeys, multi-factor authentication, social logins (Google, Microsoft, GitHub), and SAML, along with role-based access control and multi-tenant organization management.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- ZITADEL Cloud
Quantifiable outcome
- Available in 69 countries with multi-region deployment options
- +2 more outcomes
Companies that use ZITADEL
Customer profileNamed customers12 records
Segments3 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
ZITADEL technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration4 records
Feature8 records
ZITADEL partnerships and signals
Strategic signalScale indicators8 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
ZITADEL competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- Okta: Okta is the dominant enterprise workforce identity and access management vendor, with deep enterprise penetration and broad product portfolio (including Auth0). It competes with ZITADEL on enterprise SSO and identity but at much larger scale and sales investment.
- Microsoft Entra ID: Microsoft Entra ID (formerly Azure Active Directory) is the default identity layer for the Microsoft 365 and Azure ecosystem. As a bundled incumbent, it competes with ZITADEL for enterprise IAM and is the largest source of competitive pricing pressure in the market.
- Amazon Cognito: Amazon Cognito is the AWS-native user identity and authentication service, bundled into AWS pricing. It competes with ZITADEL for AWS-hosted application developers who prefer native-integration convenience over ZITADEL's open-source flexibility.
Emerging players
- WorkOS: WorkOS provides enterprise SSO, SCIM, and audit logs targeted specifically at B2B SaaS companies. It overlaps with ZITADEL's B2B multi-tenant use cases but focuses on enterprise-readiness features rather than end-user authentication.
- Stytch: Stytch is a developer-focused authentication and authorization platform with strong passwordless and B2B authentication capabilities. It competes with ZITADEL for the same developer persona, particularly for passwordless-first architectures.
- Clerk: Clerk offers drop-in authentication and user management for React and Next.js applications, with strong developer ergonomics. It overlaps with ZITADEL's developer-focused authentication use cases and competes for the same front-end developer persona.
Direct peers
- Keycloak (Red Hat): Keycloak is the dominant open-source IAM platform, sponsored by Red Hat. It directly competes with ZITADEL on self-hosted identity infrastructure, SSO, and federation for enterprises — and is the open-source incumbent ZITADEL is explicitly differentiated against.
- Ory: Ory offers an open-source identity stack (Kratos, Hydra, Keto, Oathkeeper) plus Ory Cloud, targeting developers building identity into applications. It is the closest open-source peer to ZITADEL in architecture and developer go-to-market.
- Auth0 (Okta): Auth0 is the leading developer-focused identity platform, now part of Okta. It competes directly with ZITADEL on cloud-hosted CIAM/IAM for developers and B2B SaaS, with a similar API-first, SDK-rich approach. ZITADEL explicitly positions against Auth0 in its comparison content.
- FusionAuth: FusionAuth is a developer-first authentication and authorization platform with both self-hosted and cloud offerings, targeting similar B2B and CIAM use cases as ZITADEL. It is a direct competitor in the same product-led growth motion.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
ZITADEL social profiles
Digital presenceZITADEL compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance5 records
ZITADEL financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
ZITADEL leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles3 records
ZITADEL funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds2 records
Investors3 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
ZITADEL M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about ZITADEL
What does ZITADEL do?
ZITADEL provides a multi-tenant, API-first identity and access management platform that enables developers to embed authentication, authorization, SSO, MFA, and passkey support directly into applications. The platform is delivered both as a managed cloud service (ZITADEL Cloud) and as a self-hostable open-source project, and supports B2B customer identity via organizations, project grants, and machine/service accounts.
Is ZITADEL a public or private company?
ZITADEL is a private company. It is classified as venture growth investor backed and is currently operating.
When was ZITADEL founded?
ZITADEL was founded in 2019. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is ZITADEL based?
ZITADEL is headquartered in San Francisco, United States, in the North America region.
How does ZITADEL make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. Cloud Subscription Service is the primary driver. The others are enterprise Licensing and Support and freemium Model.
Who are ZITADEL's main competitors?
Broad incumbents on record are Okta, Microsoft Entra ID and Amazon Cognito. Emerging players are WorkOS, Stytch and Clerk. Direct peers are Keycloak (Red Hat), Ory, Auth0 (Okta) and FusionAuth.
Does ZITADEL have an API?
Yes. ZITADEL provides gRPC and REST APIs for building authentication directly into applications. The APIs enable developers to build custom login UIs and integrate identity management features. The platform supports modern contracted gRPC and REST APIs as solid abstractions for authentication and authorization workflows. Developer documentation is at zitadel.com/docs.
What industry is ZITADEL in?
ZITADEL's product category is Identity and Access Management. Its primary akta.pro industry code is HDAEAJAG, Access Management & Policy Enforcement (Authorization, ZTNA integration), with a secondary code of HDAEAJAK, User Lifecycle Provisioning & SCIM Automation. Its NAICS code is 5132 and its SIC code is 7372.