Keymate vs Ping Identity
Keymate is a Ping Identity alternative built on Keycloak that runs only on your infrastructure, air-gapped if you need it (Enterprise). It fits teams that run Keycloak or want identity, authorization and the record of every access decision in one product, and you can require an approver before a policy change reaches production. Ping Identity runs as a vendor-managed cloud (PingOne) and as self-managed software.
What is Ping Identity?
Ping Identity sells identity products in two lines: the PingOne cloud, including PingOne Advanced Identity Cloud, and self-managed software (PingFederate, PingAccess, PingAuthorize, PingDirectory and Ping Advanced Identity Software). Across those lines it covers single sign-on (PingFederate, PingOne), multi-factor authentication (PingOne MFA, PingID), authorization (PingAuthorize, PingOne Authorize) and identity governance (Ping Identity Governance), with PingOne plans for a company's workforce and for its customers. Ping runs PingOne as a vendor-managed cloud, and its software line runs self-managed in private clouds, public clouds or hybrid estates.
Keymate vs Ping Identity at a glance, module by module
Both products cover identity, sign-in, fine-grained authorization and enforcement in the request path, and both run self-managed. They differ on four points: identity governance, a vendor-managed cloud, air-gapped installation of the whole platform, and what each is built on. The table names the Ping product behind each statement.
| Area | Stronger here | Ping Identity | Keymate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Identity | Ping Identity | HR-triggered access, PingOne Verify, PingOne Credentials | Nested organizations with own admins; LDAP, AD, API-based connectors |
| Authentication | Ping Identity | PingFederate, PingOne MFA, Protect and DaVinci, PingID passkeys | OIDC and SAML sign-on, step-up MFA |
| Authorization | Comparable | PingAuthorize, PingOne Authorize: RBAC, ABAC, PBAC, relationships | Role, attribute, policy, relationship and risk models combined, every request decided outside your code |
| Enforcement | Comparable | PingAccess gateway and agents, no code changes | Access Gateway, Kong, APISIX, mesh, Kafka, SDKs |
| Authorization Governance | Comparable | PingAuthorize commits, workflows around approvals, rollback, decision trees | Optional approval, simulation, rollback, versioned decisions |
| Identity Governance | Ping Identity | Ping Identity Governance: certifications, requests, segregation of duties | Joiners, movers and leavers from HR events; access reviews on the roadmap |
| Deployment | Depends on the requirement | PingOne vendor-managed cloud, plus self-managed software | Self-hosted, air-gapped (Enterprise); no managed service |
| License and pricing model | Depends on the requirement | Proprietary; published PingOne prices, 30-day trial, no free tier | Free edition to 100 users; then per user and module |
| Ecosystem and integrations | Ping Identity | 1,800+ Marketplace integrations, SCIM 2.0, Terraform provider | OIDC and SAML, SIEM export, API-based connectors; no prebuilt catalog |
- Area
- Identity
- Stronger here
- Ping Identity
- Ping Identity
- HR-triggered access, PingOne Verify, PingOne Credentials
- Keymate
- Nested organizations with own admins; LDAP, AD, API-based connectors
- Area
- Authentication
- Stronger here
- Ping Identity
- Ping Identity
- PingFederate, PingOne MFA, Protect and DaVinci, PingID passkeys
- Keymate
- OIDC and SAML sign-on, step-up MFA
- Area
- Authorization
- Stronger here
- Comparable
- Ping Identity
- PingAuthorize, PingOne Authorize: RBAC, ABAC, PBAC, relationships
- Keymate
- Role, attribute, policy, relationship and risk models combined, every request decided outside your code
- Area
- Enforcement
- Stronger here
- Comparable
- Ping Identity
- PingAccess gateway and agents, no code changes
- Keymate
- Access Gateway, Kong, APISIX, mesh, Kafka, SDKs
- Stronger here
- Comparable
- Ping Identity
- PingAuthorize commits, workflows around approvals, rollback, decision trees
- Keymate
- Optional approval, simulation, rollback, versioned decisions
- Stronger here
- Ping Identity
- Ping Identity
- Ping Identity Governance: certifications, requests, segregation of duties
- Keymate
- Joiners, movers and leavers from HR events; access reviews on the roadmap
- Area
- Deployment
- Stronger here
- Depends on the requirement
- Ping Identity
- PingOne vendor-managed cloud, plus self-managed software
- Keymate
- Self-hosted, air-gapped (Enterprise); no managed service
- Area
- License and pricing model
- Stronger here
- Depends on the requirement
- Ping Identity
- Proprietary; published PingOne prices, 30-day trial, no free tier
- Keymate
- Free edition to 100 users; then per user and module
- Area
- Ecosystem and integrations
- Stronger here
- Ping Identity
- Ping Identity
- 1,800+ Marketplace integrations, SCIM 2.0, Terraform provider
- Keymate
- OIDC and SAML, SIEM export, API-based connectors; no prebuilt catalog
Choose Ping Identity when you want a vendor-managed cloud, prebuilt HR connectors, identity verification or identity governance (certifications, access requests, separation of duties) today.
Choose Keymate when you run Keycloak, or when identity, authorization and the record of every access decision must run on your own infrastructure, air-gapped if needed (Enterprise).
Every capability we compared
We compare every vendor against the same list of capabilities, grouped by Keymate's modules, so you can read this page next to our Okta and Microsoft Entra ID pages. Where Ping's pages name a product, the Ping Identity cell names it. "Not documented" means the Ping Identity pages we checked do not mention it, not that Ping Identity lacks it.
| Capability | Ping Identity | Keymate |
|---|---|---|
| Identity | ||
| User management & self-service | Yes: PingOne Self Service portal | Yes |
| Multi-tenant organizations / B2B tenancy | Yes: organizations and sub-organizations (PingOne Advanced Identity Cloud) | Yes: organizations with their own administrators |
| Delegated administration | Yes: organization owners and administrators (PingOne Advanced Identity Cloud) | Yes: scoped administrators |
| User federation (LDAP / Active Directory) | Yes: directory synchronization, Active Directory included (PingDataSync with PingDirectory) | Yes |
| Social & enterprise IdP brokering | Yes: social sign-on and OIDC/SAML brokering (PingFederate, PingOne) | Yes: OIDC and SAML identity providers |
| HR-driven identity lifecycle (JML) | Yes: birthright access triggered from your HR system | Yes: API-based connectors for your HR system |
| SCIM provisioning | Yes: SCIM 2.0 to hundreds of apps | Not yet |
| Authentication | ||
| SSO (OIDC, OAuth 2.1, SAML) | Yes: PingFederate, PingOne | Yes: OIDC and SAML |
| MFA & step-up | Yes: PingOne MFA, PingID | Yes: MFA with step-up |
| Passkeys / passwordless | Yes: FIDO2 passkeys (PingID) | Yes: passkeys |
| Adaptive / risk-based access | Yes: context-aware policies, PingOne Protect | Yes: risk-based MFA |
| Brute-force & account protection | Yes: PingOne Protect (bots, brute force, credential stuffing, MFA fatigue) | Yes: brute-force detection and lockout |
| Session management & token revocation | Yes: admins end a user's sessions (PingOne); token revocation (PingOne Advanced Identity Cloud) | Yes: token introspection and revocation |
| Login theming & localization | Yes: themes and per-language content (PingOne) | Yes: login themes and localized flows |
| Authorization | ||
| RBAC | Yes: PingAuthorize, PingOne Authorize | Yes |
| ABAC / policy conditions | Yes: attribute-based rules (PingAuthorize) | Yes |
| ReBAC (relationship-based) | Yes: "relationship-based patterns" in policy (PingAuthorize, PingOne Authorize) | Yes |
| Central policy engine (PBAC) for apps & APIs | Yes: PingAuthorize (software), PingOne Authorize (cloud) | Yes: one set of policies combining role, attribute, policy, relationship and risk models |
| Risk-adaptive authorization | Yes: PingOne Authorize with PingOne Protect risk scores | Yes |
| Fine-grained PDP for APIs | Yes: PingAuthorize decision API and API Security Gateway | Yes |
| Per-request decisioning | Yes: real-time decision API (PingOne Authorize) | Yes: every request decided |
| Enforcement | ||
| Gateway enforcement, no app code changes | Yes: PingAccess gateway and agents | Yes: Access Gateway, Kong and APISIX plugins, Istio and Envoy, Kafka event streams |
| Enforcement SDKs | Partial: Ping SDKs for Android, iOS and JavaScript cover sign-in; apps call the PingAuthorize decision API | Yes: TypeScript, Java and .NET SDKs |
| Authorization Governance | ||
| Approval workflow on policy changes | Yes: version control supports workflows around approvals; authors separate from deployers (PingAuthorize) | Yes: you can require an approver |
| Policy versioning & rollback | Yes: branches, commits and revert (PingAuthorize) | Yes |
| Decision explainability (why denied) | Yes: Decision Visualizer (PingAuthorize) | Yes: the policy and condition behind each allow and deny |
| Policy change simulation | Yes: policy testing in the Policy Editor (PingAuthorize) | Yes: against past decisions |
| Decision evidence & auditor reports | Yes: user events kept 90 days and configuration events 2 years, with dashboards (PingOne) | Yes: decision records with the policy version |
| Real-time decision observability | Yes: audit logs show how each decision was reached (PingOne Authorize); events sent by webhook (PingOne) | Yes: decision stream with OpenTelemetry export |
| Audit event logging & SIEM export | Yes: webhooks in Splunk and New Relic formats, PingOne App for Splunk | Yes: OpenTelemetry audit pipeline |
| Identity Governance | ||
| Access certification campaigns | Yes: certifications and micro-certifications (Ping Identity Governance) | Not yet |
| Segregation of duties (SoD) | Yes: SoD policies enforced at request time (Ping Identity Governance) | Not yet |
| End-user access request catalog | Yes: access requests with approval chains (Ping Identity Governance) | Not yet |
| Deployment and licensing | ||
| Self-hosted on your infrastructure | Yes: self-managed software (PingFederate, PingAccess, PingAuthorize, PingDirectory, PingAM, PingIDM) | Yes: Kubernetes on your infrastructure |
| Vendor-managed SaaS | Yes: PingOne, PingOne Advanced Identity Cloud | No managed service today |
| Air-gapped deployment | Partial: documented for Ping Autonomous Identity | Yes (Enterprise) |
| High availability | Yes: 99.99% uptime in Ping's support policy | Yes (Enterprise) |
| Pricing unit | Per user a month (PingOne for Workforce); annual price (PingOne for Customers) | Per user and per module, above 100 registered users |
| Free edition | Not documented; PingOne offers a 30-day trial instead | Free edition up to 100 registered users |
| Trial motion | Yes: 30-day free trial (PingOne for Customers, PingOne for Workforce) | Free edition, no time limit |
| Published pricing | Yes: PingOne plan prices on the pricing page | No figures at launch |
Ping Identity facts last checked 17, 19 and 20 October 2026, from Ping Identity's public pages (pingidentity.com, docs.pingidentity.com and developer.pingidentity.com) and Ping's GitHub organization. Keymate facts are from keymate.io. Spotted something out of date? Tell us and we will fix it. Product names are trademarks of their owners.
Where Ping Identity is stronger
If your team needs one of these, count it in Ping's favor.
Identity governance that ships today.
Ping Identity Governance runs access certifications, access requests with approval chains and segregation-of-duties checks. Keymate's Identity Governance handles joiners, movers and leavers today; access reviews are on the roadmap.
A vendor-managed cloud.
Ping runs PingOne and PingOne Advanced Identity Cloud as a vendor-managed service. Keymate is self-hosted only: your team runs it on your Kubernetes.
Published prices and a trial.
Ping publishes prices for its PingOne plans and offers a 30-day trial. Keymate's prices are given on request.
Identity verification, credentials and integrations.
Ping sells identity verification (PingOne Verify), verifiable credentials (PingOne Credentials), threat protection (PingOne Protect) and no-code user journeys (PingOne DaVinci), and lists more than 1,800 Marketplace integrations. Keymate offers neither identity verification nor verifiable credentials.
Where Keymate is stronger
If your team needs one of these, count it in Keymate's favor.
The whole platform on an air-gapped network.
With the Enterprise plan, every Keymate component runs air-gapped, the evidence store included. It reports nothing back to us. Ping documents air-gapped installation for Ping Autonomous Identity.
A Keycloak estate moves across.
Keymate is built on Keycloak, and Ping Identity is its own platform. If you run Keycloak today, your realms, clients and flows move into Keymate without being rebuilt, and that may decide it.
A free edition.
Keymate's free edition, Community, includes every module for up to 100 registered users. Ping publishes no free tier. Pricing model and license explains how Keymate is priced above 100 users.
How a policy change is governed in each
PingAuthorize and Keymate both version access policies, separate writing a policy from putting it live, and can roll back. Here is what each documents around a change.
PingAuthorize keeps policies in branches with commits, which Ping describes as a basis for workflows around approvals and deployment, and ties each deployment package to a commit. It separates policy authors from deployers, tests policies in the Policy Editor and can roll back to an earlier version. Its Decision Visualizer shows a decision as an interactive tree.
In Keymate, a change goes through five steps in the admin console. You draft the rule and simulate it against real past decisions. Any approval you require comes before the change reaches production. You publish it at the gateway the same day and can roll back to any earlier version. Every allow and deny is recorded with the policy version and any approval behind it. Authorization Governance shows each step, and Access evidence for audits shows what an auditor receives.
Pricing model and license
Ping Identity pricing is published for its PingOne cloud plans: an annual price for the customer-identity plans and a price per user a month, with a minimum number of users, for the workforce plans, plus a 30-day trial; no free tier is published. The Passwordless plan for customers is listed as "Contact Sales", and the self-managed software is not priced on the page. Ping Identity is proprietary.
Keymate is not open source. It has a free edition under its own license, Community, with every module for up to 100 registered users. Above 100 users, every module is paid, priced per user and per module. Prices are given on request; Pricing shows what each edition includes.
Built on Keycloak: what moves across
Keycloak vs Ping Identity is a choice between an open-source IAM project you run yourself and a commercial suite. Keycloak realms, clients and flows move into Keymate with Keycloak's realm export and import, without being rebuilt. Keymate is not itself open source. It adds nested organizations, delegated administration, authorization decided on every request and enforced in the request path, and governance of every policy change. Keymate vs Keycloak shows what Keycloak gives you on its own.
Running Keymate next to Ping Identity
Keymate does not have to replace Ping Identity. It connects to Ping over OIDC and SAML: people keep signing in through Ping, and Keymate decides and records what each request may do. You can run both side by side and move over only what you choose; Parallel Run describes how.
What this page does not claim
- Access certification, separation of duties, access requests, identity verification and a vendor-managed cloud are Ping Identity's today, not Keymate's.
- No benchmark, performance or availability figures for Keymate, and no test results for either product.
- No claim that Ping Identity lacks a capability its pages do not mention. "Not documented" means the Ping Identity pages we checked do not mention it.
Other Ping Identity alternatives
- Okta: sells Workforce Identity for employees and Okta Customer Identity for the customers of a business, both delivered as a cloud service run by Okta. If you are weighing Okta vs Ping Identity as well, see Keymate vs Okta.
- Microsoft Entra ID: Microsoft's cloud identity service, formerly Azure Active Directory; Microsoft 365 E3 includes Entra ID P1 and E5 includes P2. Keymate vs Microsoft Entra ID
- Keycloak: a free, open-source IAM project under the Apache License 2.0, which you run, upgrade and patch yourself. Keymate is built on it. Keymate vs Keycloak
- Red Hat build of Keycloak: Red Hat's commercially supported build of Keycloak, self-hosted on OpenShift or RHEL and entitled through a Red Hat subscription, with a published support lifecycle. Keycloak and Red Hat build of Keycloak
- PlainID: a commercial, policy-based authorization platform that sits beside your identity provider; its decision point can run in your environment, while policy management runs in PlainID's cloud. Standalone authorization engines
The IAM platform comparison sets eleven products side by side, including supported and managed Keycloak and standalone authorization engines.
Questions
Is Keymate a Ping Identity alternative?
Keymate is a Ping Identity alternative for teams that run Keycloak, or that want identity, authorization and the record of every access decision in one product. It runs on your own infrastructure, air-gapped if you need it (Enterprise). If you need a vendor-managed cloud or identity governance today, Ping Identity is the better fit: it offers both.
How does Keymate compare to PingOne and PingAuthorize, capability by capability?
Both cover single sign-on, MFA, passkeys, role-, attribute- and relationship-based authorization, gateway enforcement and policy versioning. Ping Identity is stronger in identity governance, identity verification and as a vendor-managed cloud. Keymate runs the whole platform on your infrastructure, air-gapped on the Enterprise plan, and records each decision with its policy version. The full list shows all 41 rows.
Can Ping Identity be self-hosted?
Yes. Ping Identity's software line, including PingFederate, PingAccess, PingAuthorize, PingDirectory and Ping Advanced Identity Software, runs self-managed in private clouds, public clouds or hybrid estates. Ping also runs PingOne as a vendor-managed cloud. Ping describes its identity governance as cloud-native and does not claim a self-managed edition of it.
How does Ping Identity pricing work?
Ping Identity publishes prices for its PingOne plans: an annual price for the customer-identity plans and a monthly price per user, with a minimum number of users, for the workforce plans. It offers a 30-day trial, publishes no free tier, and does not price the self-managed software on the page. Keymate has a free edition, Community, with every module for up to 100 registered users; above that, it is priced per user and per module, with prices given on request.
What is the difference between Keycloak and Ping Identity?
Keycloak is an open-source IAM project you run yourself; Ping Identity is a commercial suite offered as a cloud and as self-managed software. Keymate is built on Keycloak, is not itself open source, and adds authorization decided on every request, enforcement in the request path and governance of every policy change. Keymate vs Keycloak shows what Keycloak covers on its own.
Can Keymate run next to Ping Identity?
Yes. Keymate connects to Ping Identity over OIDC and SAML: users keep signing in through Ping, and Keymate decides and records what each request may do.