Choosing the Right Zitadel Offering: A Guide to Our Plans and Models

Whether you are a developer starting a new project or an enterprise architect securing a global infrastructure, Zitadel offers a range of deployment models and service plans tailored to different needs.

This guide provides an overview of our four primary offerings to help you decide which path is right for your organization.

1. Zitadel Open Source (OSS)

Best for: Developers, hobbyists, and organizations with strong DevOps capabilities who want full control without licensing costs.

Zitadel is "Open Source at its core." You can run the community version on your own infrastructure using our GitHub repository. This version includes all the core identity management features but lacks official support and certain enterprise-grade management tools.

Pros: Total control over data and infrastructure; no subscription fees.
Cons: You are responsible for hosting, scaling, security updates, and backups. No SLA or official support.

Learn more: Zitadel GitHub Repository | Self-Hosting Documentation | Join our Discord

2. Zitadel Cloud: Pro Plan

Best for: Startups and SMEs that want a hands-off, managed solution that scales with their growth.

Zitadel Cloud Pro is our self-serve SaaS offering. It is designed to get you up and running in minutes without worrying about the underlying infrastructure.

Key Features: Pay-as-you-go pricing, managed updates, and global availability.
Support: Community support and standard helpdesk access.
Decision Factor: Choose this if you want the features of Zitadel without the operational overhead of managing servers.

Deep Dive: Zitadel Cloud Pro vs. Enterprise: Which plan is right for you?

3. Zitadel Cloud: Enterprise

Best for: Large organizations requiring high-volume throughput, custom legal agreements, and dedicated support.

The Cloud Enterprise plan builds on the Pro plan by adding the "white-glove" service required by large-scale operations. It is still a managed SaaS product, but with increased limits and professional backing.

Key Features: Volume discounts, Custom contracts/MSAs, Higher Support SLAs including Technical Account Management, Up to 99.99% availability guarantee, and Enterprise-only features.
Decision Factor: Choose this if you have high traffic volumes (eg, 150+ External IDP connections, or over or 175 000require a formal Service Level Agreement (SLA).

Deep Dive: Zitadel Cloud Pro vs. Enterprise: Which plan is right for you?

4. Zitadel Self-Hosted: Enterprise

Best for: Highly regulated industries (Finance, Healthcare, Government) or companies with strict data residency requirements.

If you need the power of Zitadel Enterprise but your data cannot leave your private network or a specific geographic region, this is the solution. You host it, but we provide the enterprise features and the support you need to run it reliably.

Key Features: Use of Enterprise features on your own infra, architecture reviews, and direct access to Zitadel engineers.
Decision Factor: Choose this if compliance or security policies prohibit the use of a public cloud identity provider.

Deep Dive: Cloud Enterprise vs. Enterprise Self-Hosted

Quick Decision Matrix

Your Requirement	Recommended Model
"I want it for free and can manage it myself."	Open Source
"I want to start fast with low costs and no maintenance."	Cloud Pro
"I need high scale and 24/7 priority support."	Cloud Enterprise
"I must keep all data on my own private servers/AWS."	Self-Hosted Enterprise

Still Unsure?

Compare Features: Check our Pricing Page for a side-by-side feature comparison.

Talk to us:
If you are debating between Cloud Enterprise and Self-Hosted Enterprise, contact our sales team for a consultation on your specific architecture.