Cerbos

Scalable access control for your software.

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Overview

Cerbos is an open-source authorization layer that enables developers to define access control policies for their applications and services in a centralized, manageable way. It decouples authorization logic from the core application code, making it easier to manage and scale permissions.

✨ Key Features

  • Decoupled Authorization Logic
  • Human-Readable Policies (YAML)
  • Stateless and Scalable
  • Real-time Policy Updates
  • Audit Logging

🎯 Key Differentiators

  • Language-agnostic and stateless architecture
  • Focus on GitOps and policy-as-code workflows
  • Designed for high performance and low latency

Unique Value: Provides a simple, scalable, and open-source way to decouple authorization logic from application code, improving maintainability and agility.

🎯 Use Cases (4)

Implementing authorization in microservices architectures Managing complex, role-based permissions Externalizing access control logic from application code Enabling GitOps workflows for policy management

✅ Best For

  • Checking if a user can access a specific resource in an API call
  • Filtering a list of resources based on the user's permissions
  • Centralizing authorization for multiple backend services

💡 Check With Vendor

Verify these considerations match your specific requirements:

  • Organizations that need a full identity governance suite for managing access to third-party SaaS apps

🏆 Alternatives

Permit.io Oso Styra (OPA)

Offers a more purpose-built and developer-friendly experience for application authorization compared to the more general-purpose OPA, while being open-source unlike some commercial competitors.

💻 Platforms

API

✅ Offline Mode Available

🔌 Integrations

SDKs for major languages (Go, Java, JS, .NET, Python, Ruby) gRPC and REST APIs

🛟 Support Options

  • ✓ Email Support
  • ✓ Live Chat
  • ✓ Dedicated Support (Enterprise tier)

🔒 Compliance & Security

✓ SOC 2 ✓ GDPR ✓ SSO ✓ SOC 2 Type II (for Cerbos Hub)

💰 Pricing

Contact for pricing
Free Tier Available

✓ 14-day free trial

Free tier: Open-source is free to self-host.

Visit Cerbos Website →