Ory

Ory is an identity and access management stack for applications, enterprises and AI agents. It is API-first and can be self-hosted or run as a managed cloud service.

Ory covers the two main parts of access control: knowing who a user or agent is, and deciding what they may do. Its components handle identities, sign-in flows and permission checks. Teams can use the open source components themselves, or buy support and a managed platform from the same vendor.

• Login, registration and profile management
• Fine-grained permission checks for resources
• Single sign-on, social sign-in and passkeys
• Self-hosted or managed cloud deployment
• Security controls for AI agents and MCP servers

Ory suits platform teams that want control over their identity stack, and security teams that need consistent permission rules across services. It is also aimed at companies with privacy and compliance needs, such as GDPR.

The Kratos project is open source under the Apache-2.0 license, so the core components can be used without a license fee. Paid options include a managed network, enterprise licenses and support plans. The stack works mainly through HTTP APIs and SDKs, so most of the work happens in code rather than in a fixed user interface.