Editorial take
Why it stands out
OpenFGA should be framed as core authorization infrastructure and a system primitive, not as a polished identity suite.
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Tool profile
Open-source fine-grained authorization system inspired by Zanzibar for relationship-based access control at application scale.
Fine-grained authorization
OpenFGA deserves a place in the catalog because it is one of the clearest open-source authorization systems for teams that want Zanzibar-style modeling without starting from scratch. The official site describes OpenFGA as an open-source authorization solution for building granular access control with friendly APIs and a readable modeling language. The documentation is also explicit that it is inspired by Zanzibar and centers on relationship-based access control while still supporting role and attribute-oriented cases.
Its pricing posture is simple and OSS-first. The official site does not expose a first-party managed pricing table on the checked pages. The product is presented as open-source, CNCF-owned infrastructure with documentation, Docker-based quickstart paths, and self-hostable deployment guidance. That means the software itself is free to adopt, while the real cost shows up in infrastructure, operational ownership, and any commercial vendor support or managed layer chosen around the project.
Quick fit
Editorial take
OpenFGA should be framed as core authorization infrastructure and a system primitive, not as a polished identity suite.
What it does well
Primary use cases
Fit notes
Compare with
Pressure-test this pick against nearby alternatives.
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Pricing snapshot
OpenFGA is a free open-source authorization system with no first-party public pricing table on the checked official pages. Costs come from self-hosting, infrastructure, and any commercial support or managed deployment chosen around the OSS project.
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