Keycloak vs Stirling-PDF
Detailed comparison to help you choose the right tool for your needs
K
Keycloak
Open-source identity and access management — self-hosted Auth0 alternative
4.2
Editorial RatingS
Stirling-PDF
Self-hosted PDF toolkit with 60+ tools
4.6
Editorial RatingQuick Comparison
Rating
4.2
vs4.6
Starting Price
Free
vsFree
Pricing Model
free
vsfreemium
Feature
Keycloak
Stirling-PDF
Single Sign-On
SAML & OpenID Connect
Social login
User federation (LDAP/AD)
Admin console
Fine-grained authorization
Merge & split PDFs
OCR text recognition
Digital signatures
Format conversion
Batch processing API
Self-hosted (Docker)
Keycloak Pros
- Enterprise-grade identity management
- Backed by Red Hat
- Supports every auth protocol
- Massive adoption in enterprise
Keycloak Cons
- Java-based — heavier resource usage
- Complex initial configuration
- Documentation can be overwhelming
Stirling-PDF Pros
- 60+ PDF operations in one tool
- Dead simple Docker deployment
- Documents never leave your server
- Active development (76K GitHub stars)
- API-first for workflow automation
- Ultra-lite image available (1GB RAM)
Stirling-PDF Cons
- Text editing still in alpha
- Not a full Adobe Acrobat replacement
- OCR requires full Docker image
- No real-time collaborative editing
- Enterprise features are newer
- No native mobile app