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FusionAuth

fusionauth.io

From $162/mo Free plan WebWindowsmacOSLinuxiOSAndroid
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Spec score 9.2 #1 of 45 in Identity and Access Management Software

What it is

FusionAuth is a Customer Identity and Access Management server for authentication, authorization, and user management. It supports username and password login, passkeys, one-time passwords, and external identity providers, including Apple, Facebook, Google, and Twitter. It implements OAuth 2.0, OpenID Connect, and SAML v2. Authorization includes role-based access across users, roles, groups, applications, and entities, plus fine-grained authorization integration. Teams can customize pages and messages and use lambda functions and webhooks. It can run locally, on-premises, in private or air-gapped cloud environments, or as a managed FusionAuth Cloud instance. The free Community Edition is self-hosted and unlimited, with no trial clock. Starter costs $162 a month billed annually and includes one connector and 100 machine-to-machine entities; Essentials and Enterprise cost $2,970 a month billed annually. FusionAuth supports Android, iOS, Linux, macOS, Windows, web, and API deployments.

Spec sheet

What it does
FusionAuth is a customer identity and access management server providing authentication, authorization and user management.Read 14 Oct 2026 · fusionauth.io
Deployment
The product can run locally, on premises, in a customer cloud, on an air-gapped server or as FusionAuth Cloud.Read 14 Oct 2026 · fusionauth.io
API
Its core interface is a REST API documented with OpenAPI; the administrative web interface uses the same APIs.Read 14 Oct 2026 · fusionauth.io
Integrations
Identity-provider integrations include Apple, Facebook, Google, Twitter and arbitrary OIDC or SAML v2 providers, with connectors, plugins and monitoring integrations also available.Read 14 Oct 2026 · fusionauth.io
Support
Community support is provided through forums, Slack, and GitHub; Essentials includes email support with a 24 to 48 hour business-hours response time, and Enterprise includes 24/7 email and phone support.Read 1 Oct 2026 · fusionauth.io
Headquarters
United StatesRead 28 Sep 2026 · fusionauth.io
Authentication
It supports username/password login, identity providers, passkeys, and one-time passwords.Read 1 Oct 2026 · fusionauth.io
Authentication methods
Supported methods include passwords, social and enterprise identity providers, passkeys and one-time passwords.Read 14 Oct 2026 · fusionauth.io
Authorization
FusionAuth provides role-based access control and fine-grained authorization capabilities.Read 14 Oct 2026 · fusionauth.io
Company profile
LinkedIn lists FusionAuth as a privately held software company headquartered in Broomfield, Colorado, founded in 2009, with 51–200 employees.Read 14 Oct 2026 · linkedin.com
Customization
Pages and messages can be customized, while lambdas alter validation, MFA challenge and token transformation behavior and webhooks react to events.Read 14 Oct 2026 · fusionauth.io
Documentation
Documentation includes API references, installation guides, deployment, security, SDKs, framework quickstarts and operational troubleshooting.Read 14 Oct 2026 · fusionauth.io
Free edition
The Community Edition is free, self-hosted, unlimited, and has no trial clock.Read 1 Oct 2026 · fusionauth.io
Funding
FusionAuth announced a $65 million growth-equity investment from Updata Partners on November 1, 2023, its first outside funding after bootstrapping.Read 14 Oct 2026 · fusionauth.io
GDPR features
Its GDPR guidance describes data isolation, user-data export and deletion APIs, pseudonymous identifiers, configurable password hashing and a 24-hour breach-notification target.Read 14 Oct 2026 · fusionauth.io
Identity providers
Supported social identity providers include Apple, Facebook, Google, and Twitter, with OpenID Connect and SAML v2 providers also supported.Read 1 Oct 2026 · fusionauth.io
Install formats
Self-hosted software is distributed as Docker images, ZIP archives, RPM packages or DEB packages with a database and optional search engine.Read 14 Oct 2026 · fusionauth.io
Legal entity
The customer licence identifies the maker as Inversoft, LLC doing business as FusionAuth, a Delaware limited liability company.Read 14 Oct 2026 · fusionauth.io
Licence
The core fusionauth-app bundle is closed-source proprietary software that users may not modify, decompile or reverse engineer.Read 14 Oct 2026 · fusionauth.io
Limit: Capterra users
Reported drawbacks include paid registration customization, no user-focused profile-edit interface and the core product not being open source.Read 14 Oct 2026 · capterra.com
Limit: G2 users
Complaints include complex or limited theme customization, non-intuitive advanced workflows, costly self-hosted licensing and missing built-in login rate limiting.Read 14 Oct 2026 · g2.com
Limit: GetApp users
A recurring criticism is that the PHP API documentation needs improvement.Read 14 Oct 2026 · getapp.com
Limit: Software Advice users
Reported limitations include Kubernetes deployment difficulty, memory or performance concerns, unintuitive permissions, missing smart authentication, no dedicated JavaScript SDK and weaker CI/CD tooling than Auth0 Terraform.Read 14 Oct 2026 · softwareadvice.com
Memory guidance
The general memory guideline is 512 MB for the application, with 512 MB to 1 GB per node suggested for multi-node setups.Read 14 Oct 2026 · fusionauth.io
Network requirement
Paid installations must allow connections to reactor.fusionauth.io, metrics.fusionauth.io and license.fusionauth.io, while Community installations can block outbound access.Read 14 Oct 2026 · fusionauth.io
Notable limits
The pricing comparison lists Starter with one connector and 100 machine-to-machine entities, Essentials with five connectors and 1,000 entities, and Enterprise with unlimited connectors and entities.Read 1 Oct 2026 · fusionauth.io
Notable news
FusionAuth announced a dedicated UK team on October 5, 2026 and reported European regional growth of 72 percent over two years.Read 14 Oct 2026 · fusionauth.io
Notable release
Release 1.69.4 dated October 14, 2026 fixed vulnerabilities involving account takeover, privilege escalation, authentication bypass and sensitive-information exposure.Read 14 Oct 2026 · fusionauth.io
Open components
FusionAuth says its documentation, example applications and client libraries are generally released under Apache License 2.0.Read 14 Oct 2026 · fusionauth.io
Operating systems
Supported operating systems include all Linux distributions, macOS 10.15 or newer, Windows Server 2019, and Windows 10.Read 1 Oct 2026 · fusionauth.io
Praise: Capterra users
Capterra reviewers highlight transparent repositories, easy authentication integration, strong documentation and helpful support.Read 14 Oct 2026 · capterra.com
Praise: G2 users
Reviewers repeatedly praise flexible self-hosting and cloud choices, straightforward setup, documentation, APIs and responsive support.Read 14 Oct 2026 · g2.com
Praise: GetApp users
GetApp reviewers value broad authentication integrations, strong feature coverage, support and overall value.Read 14 Oct 2026 · getapp.com
Product type
FusionAuth is a Customer Identity and Access Management server providing authentication, authorization, and user management.Read 1 Oct 2026 · fusionauth.io
Rating on Capterra
4.8 out of 5 from 30 reviews.Read 14 Oct 2026 · capterra.com
Rating on G2
4.5 out of 5 from 140 reviews.Read 14 Oct 2026 · g2.com
Rating on GetApp
4.8 out of 5 from 30 reviews.Read 14 Oct 2026 · getapp.com
Rating on Software Advice
4.8 out of 5 from 30 reviews.Read 14 Oct 2026 · softwareadvice.com
Rating on TrustRadius
8 out of 10 from 2 reviews.Read 14 Oct 2026 · trustradius.com
SDKs
Open-source client libraries cover all public REST endpoints and are available for Angular, Go, Java, .NET, PHP, Python, React, Ruby, TypeScript, Vue, Kotlin Android and Swift iOS.Read 14 Oct 2026 · fusionauth.io
Security certifications
FusionAuth reports SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO 27001 compliance and provides reports through its trust center for eligible customers.Read 14 Oct 2026 · trust.fusionauth.io
Security compliance
FusionAuth states that it is SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO 27001 compliant, GDPR compliant, offers HIPAA BAAs to select customers, and can run in FedRAMP-compliant infrastructure.Read 1 Oct 2026 · trust.fusionauth.io
Standards
It implements OAuth 2.0, OpenID Connect and SAML v2, acting as both a service provider and SAML identity provider.Read 14 Oct 2026 · fusionauth.io
System support
Supported hosts include all Linux distributions, macOS 10.15 or newer, Windows 10 and Windows Server 2019; Docker and Kubernetes are supported.Read 14 Oct 2026 · fusionauth.io
Target users
FusionAuth is intended for managing end users at scale and does not offer native desktop integration or position itself as an Active Directory replacement.Read 1 Oct 2026 · fusionauth.io

Plans and prices

Community Free Free; self-hosted unlimited · self-hosted · core authentication features Read 1 Oct 2026 · fusionauth.io
Community Free self-hosted · unlimited · core authentication · community support Read 14 Oct 2026 · fusionauth.io
Starter $162 a month Billed annually premium authentication · breached-password detection · machine-to-machine · basic hosting Read 14 Oct 2026 · fusionauth.io
Starter $162 a month Billed annually 1 connector · 100 machine-to-machine entities · basic hosting Read 1 Oct 2026 · fusionauth.io
Enterprise $2,970 a month Billed annually unlimited connectors · unlimited machine-to-machine entities · high availability hosting Read 1 Oct 2026 · fusionauth.io
Enterprise $2,970 a month Billed annually advanced threat detection · SSO Tenant Manager · 24/7 email and phone support · high-availability hosting Read 14 Oct 2026 · fusionauth.io
Essentials $2,970 a month Billed annually 5 connectors · 1,000 machine-to-machine entities · business hosting Read 1 Oct 2026 · fusionauth.io
Essentials $2,970 a month Billed annually advanced connectivity, MFA and security · custom OAuth scopes · email support · business hosting Read 14 Oct 2026 · fusionauth.io

Every FusionAuth plan and price →

Strong points and limits

Strong points

  • Free, unlimited self-hosted Community Edition
  • Supports OAuth 2.0, OpenID Connect, and SAML v2
  • Can run on-premises or in air-gapped cloud environments
  • Supports passkeys and one-time passwords

Limits

  • Starter costs $162 a month billed annually
  • No native desktop integration
  • Not positioned as an Active Directory replacement

Who it suits

It suits teams managing end-user identity at scale that need authentication and authorization across applications. It is not positioned as an Active Directory replacement and does not offer native desktop integration.

FusionAuth in depth

Read the full write-up

FusionAuth is a customer identity and access management server for teams that build authentication and authorization into their products. It is best suited to organizations managing end users at scale that need deployment control and broad identity standards. Its self-hosted Community edition is a strong starting point, but paid connector and entity limits deserve careful scrutiny.

Overview

FusionAuth combines sign-in, user management, and access control in one system. It supports OAuth 2.0, OpenID Connect, and SAML v2, including SAML as both a service provider and an identity provider. That breadth makes it a fit for product teams integrating identity across applications, rather than organizations seeking native desktop integration or an Active Directory replacement.

Its authorization model covers users, roles, groups, applications, and entities, with fine-grained authorization integration. Directory synchronization, lifecycle provisioning, and adaptive access policies extend its role beyond handling login. Compliance statements include SOC 2 Type 2, ISO 27001, and GDPR compliance; HIPAA BAAs are offered to select customers, and the product can run in FedRAMP-compliant infrastructure.

Key features

Authentication options include username and password, passkeys, and one-time passwords. Social identity providers include Apple, Facebook, Google, and Twitter, alongside OpenID Connect and SAML v2 providers. This range suits teams that need to support varied sign-in methods or connect existing identity providers without limiting themselves to a single protocol.

Customizable pages and messages, lambda functions, and webhooks give teams ways to tailor sign-in experiences and connect identity events to application logic. Role-based access control and fine-grained authorization integration are useful when access decisions need to reflect more than whether a user has logged in. These capabilities also mean FusionAuth is more than a simple single sign-on layer.

Deployment is unusually flexible: teams can run FusionAuth locally, on-premises, in private or air-gapped cloud environments, or use FusionAuth Cloud. That choice can serve organizations with infrastructure or isolation requirements, though self-hosting also means taking responsibility for operating the deployment.

Pricing

The Community edition costs nothing and is self-hosted, unlimited, and not subject to a trial clock. It includes core authentication features, making it the clearest fit for teams that can operate the software themselves and want to start without a paid subscription. Community support runs through forums, Slack, and GitHub.

Starter costs $162 a month, billed annually. It includes basic hosting, one connector, and 100 machine-to-machine entities. This is the lowest-cost paid tier, but the single-connector and entity limits make it a poor fit if integrations or machine-to-machine relationships are likely to grow.

Essentials costs $2,970 a month, billed annually. It raises the caps to five connectors and 1,000 machine-to-machine entities and includes business hosting. Email support has a 24 to 48 hour response time during business hours. It suits organizations that need more integration capacity and a defined support channel, but the substantial price increase over Starter calls for a close check of those limits.

Enterprise also costs $2,970 a month, billed annually. It includes high availability hosting, unlimited connectors, unlimited machine-to-machine entities, and 24/7 email and phone support. Its uncapped limits and support coverage suit deployments with demanding availability needs; buyers should compare those requirements with Essentials, which has the same listed monthly price.

There is no free trial. Paid plans are billed annually, so the entry price is not a month-to-month commitment. Community remains the option for an unlimited self-hosted deployment without a paid plan.

Platforms

FusionAuth supports Android, iOS, Linux, macOS, Windows, web, API, and self-hosted environments. Supported operating systems include all Linux distributions, macOS 10.15 or newer, Windows Server 2019, and Windows 10. The platform range is useful for teams spanning different application environments, while its lack of native desktop integration remains a boundary for enterprise directory use cases.

Who it's for

Choose FusionAuth if you are building a product that needs customer identity, several sign-in methods, standards-based integrations, and control over where the identity service runs. Its unlimited free self-hosted edition is especially appealing to teams able to manage their own infrastructure. Organizations that need managed hosting, more connectors, higher entity limits, or round-the-clock support should compare paid tiers against expected scale before committing.

It is not the right choice for buyers looking for native desktop identity integration or an Active Directory replacement. Those are outside its stated positioning.

Pros and cons

Pros: The free self-hosted Community edition is unlimited and has no trial clock, allowing teams to evaluate and operate core authentication without a subscription.

Pros: OAuth 2.0, OpenID Connect, SAML v2, social providers, passkeys, and one-time passwords cover a broad set of identity integrations and sign-in needs.

Pros: Local, on-premises, private or air-gapped cloud, and managed-cloud deployment choices accommodate different infrastructure constraints.

Cons: Starter limits buyers to one connector and 100 machine-to-machine entities, which can constrain integrations as a product grows.

Cons: Essentials and Enterprise are both priced at $2,970 a month, making their different hosting, limits, and support terms especially important to compare.

Cons: The product is not positioned for native desktop identity integration or as a replacement for Active Directory.

Alternatives

Consider miniOrange Identity and Access Management if its free Customer IAM plan, which includes two to three social logins, better matches a narrower social sign-in need; it also offers a free trial. authentik is worth comparing for an open-source edition that includes OIDC, SAML, LDAP, SCIM, RADIUS, Kerberos, and proxy support. Choose Ory if its Developer tier or Production plan—with one production environment and three staging environments—fits your environment needs.

SpiderOak is another listed alternative. Evolveum midPoint may suit buyers seeking open-source software with no license fee, while noting that clustering and selected features require an active support subscription. Google Cloud Identity is an option for readers comparing a service with a Premium plan priced at $6 a month, billed annually, that includes enterprise security features and automated user provisioning. AWS IAM Access Analyzer is listed as a free alternative. Descope is another freemium option; its Free Forever plan includes 7,500 monthly active users, 10 monthly active tenants, and three SSO connections.

Browse more options in Identity and Access Management Software, Single Sign-On Software, Customer Identity and Access Management Software, Passkey Authentication Software, and Passwordless Authentication Software.

Verdict

FusionAuth is a strong choice for product teams that need standards-based customer identity, flexible deployment, and a free self-hosted edition without usage caps. The main reason to look elsewhere is cost and capacity planning: Starter is tightly capped, while the higher tiers carry a steep annual-billed monthly price. Choose it when deployment control and identity flexibility justify that trade-off.

Verdict

FusionAuth combines multiple sign-in methods, identity standards, and deployment options with a free self-hosted edition. Compare paid-plan connector and entity limits against your needs before choosing a tier.

Where Specifiction places it

Alternatives to FusionAuthAll alternatives →

Ory From $64.17/mo · Free plan 8.8 Visit