Tesseral vs Zitadel.
Last verified 2026-05-07
When Tesseral wins
- (maintainer to fill, no clear capability lead)
When Zitadel wins
- Zitadel has enterprise federation breadth; Tesseral does partially
- Zitadel has ISO 27001; Tesseral does not
- Zitadel has auth: sms otp; Tesseral does not
- Zitadel has auth: step up auth; Tesseral does partially
- Zitadel has authz: fine grained permissions; Tesseral does partially
- Zitadel has user mgmt: progressive profiling; Tesseral does not
Both win
- Both support WebAuthn passkeys natively
- Both support social login at scale
- Both have SOC 2 Type II
Pricing comparison
| MAU band | Tesseral | Zitadel |
|---|---|---|
| 10,000 MAU | $0/mo | $100/mo |
| 100,000 MAU | $290/mo | $600/mo |
| 500,000 MAU | $1,300/mo | $2,400/mo |
| 1,000,000 MAU | $2,500/mo | $4,500/mo |
Side-by-side capability matrix
| Capability | Tesseral | Zitadel |
|---|---|---|
| Password authentication | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| Social login | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| Magic links | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| SMS OTP | ✕ No | ✓ Yes |
| Email OTP | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| TOTP (authenticator app) | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| Push MFA | ✕ No | ✕ No |
| WebAuthn / passkeys | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| Biometric | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| Hardware security keys | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| SAML SSO | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| OIDC SSO | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| OAuth 2.0 SSO | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| Enterprise federation | ~ Partial | ✓ Yes |
| Passwordless-only flows | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| Adaptive MFA | ✕ No | ~ Partial |
| Step-up auth | ~ Partial | ✓ Yes |
| Capability | Tesseral | Zitadel |
|---|---|---|
| RBAC | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| ABAC | ✕ No | ~ Partial |
| ReBAC | ✕ No | ✕ No |
| FGA engine | ✕ No | ✕ No |
| API authorization | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| Fine-grained permissions | ~ Partial | ✓ Yes |
| Capability | Tesseral | Zitadel |
|---|---|---|
| Self-service registration | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| Progressive profiling | ✕ No | ✓ Yes |
| Self-service account | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| Bulk user import | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| Admin user search | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| Custom user metadata | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| Organizations / tenants | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| Multi-tenancy | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| Capability | Tesseral | Zitadel |
|---|---|---|
| REST API | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| GraphQL API | ✕ No | ✓ Yes |
| SDKs | 6 listed | 6 listed |
| CLI | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| Terraform provider | ✕ No | ✓ Yes |
| Local emulator | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| Extension model | Webhooks + custom claims | Actions (custom code) + Event-driven webhooks |
| Capability | Tesseral | Zitadel |
|---|---|---|
| Bot detection | ✕ No | ~ Partial |
| Breached password detection | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| Brute-force protection | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| Anomaly detection | ✕ No | ~ Partial |
| Log streams | ~ Partial | ✓ Yes |
| Audit logs | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| GDPR data export | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| PII minimization | ~ Partial | ✓ Yes |
| Post-quantum roadmap | ✕ No | ✕ No |
| Capability | Tesseral | Zitadel |
|---|---|---|
| MCP support | ✕ No | ✕ No |
| OAuth 2.1 | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| Dynamic client registration | ✕ No | ✓ Yes |
| Agent vs human token separation | ✕ No | ✕ No |
| Web Bot Auth | ✕ No | ✕ No |
| Capability | Tesseral | Zitadel |
|---|---|---|
| SOC 2 Type II | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| ISO 27001 | ✕ No | ✓ Yes |
| ISO 27018 | ✕ No | ✕ No |
| HIPAA | ✕ No | ✕ No |
| PCI DSS | ✕ No | ✕ No |
| GDPR | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| CCPA | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| FedRAMP | ✕ No | ✕ No |
| EU data residency | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| Capability | Tesseral | Zitadel |
|---|---|---|
| Consent management | ✕ No | ~ Partial |
| Preference center | ✕ No | ~ Partial |
| Purpose-specific consent | ✕ No | ✕ No |
| Integrates with CMPs | n/a | n/a |
FAQ
- How does Tesseral compare to Zitadel on pricing?
- Tesseral prices on tiered-mau; Zitadel prices on tiered-mau. See the pricing comparison table on this page for our editorial estimates at 10k / 100k / 500k / 1M MAU using the standard methodology assumptions.
- Should I switch from Tesseral to Zitadel?
- Switching is a 60–90 day exercise in either direction once SDK rewrites and hooks/Actions migration are accounted for. If your team is hitting cost or feature ceilings on Tesseral, evaluate Zitadel on the specific axes flagged in the "When Zitadel wins" list. If you're operating well within Tesseral, the switching cost rarely pays back.
- Do Tesseral and Zitadel both support passkeys?
- Both Tesseral and Zitadel support WebAuthn passkeys natively per public documentation. Adoption rates depend on orchestration quality (device-aware prompting, conditional UI), not raw protocol support, see the passwordless guide for the orchestration question.
This comparison is auto-generated from the underlying capability matrix and pricing data on each vendor's profile. Editorial verdict lists below are seeded heuristically from the matrix diff; a maintainer review refines them before the page goes public.