TLDR

I'll get to the point. You can use Auth0's Private Cloud product, but it's expensive, slow-moving, and it's totally opaque. You don't get to audit the code, and you're still locked in with a vendor.

Tesseral is a modern, totally open source alternative to Auth0. It's built specifically for SaaS. It's straightforward to run in your own cloud or in your customer's cloud. Tesseral has all of the power of Auth0 in a more developer-friendly package.

Auth0 Private Cloud

What is Auth0 Private Cloud?

Auth0 Private Cloud is a dedicated, single tenant version of Auth0. You use it when you can't use the same multi-tenant public cloud service that everyone else uses.

You might use it to navigate complex regulation or unusual scale.

What are the different versions of Auth0 Private Cloud?

There are effectively four different versions of the Auth0 Private Cloud product:

1. (AWS) Private Cloud Basic
2. (AWS) Private Cloud Performance
3. (GCP) Private Cloud Basic
4. (GCP) Private Cloud Performance

As you can imagine, the distinctions emerge from: the cloud provider you intend to use; and the standard of performance that you require.

You can also bolt-on a Geo-failover and PCI compliance.

How would I get started with Auth0 Private Cloud?

You have to meet their sales team. You have to sign a contract. Then you need to have a bunch of meetings. Expect an expensive and process-heavy experience!

Tesseral: an open source alternative to Auth0 Private Cloud

About Tesseral

Tesseral is open source auth software designed for B2B SaaS. In a way that similar to Auth0, you can use Tesseral to abstract away your authentication, authorization, and user management.

It includes all of the features that you need: from basic password authentication to role-based access control (RBAC) and enterprise single sign-on (SSO) to managed API keys. It even includes prebuilt UI that you can show your customers.

Benefits of Tesseral over Auth0

Tesseral is open source. The source code lives on GitHub. That means you can own your implementation.

You can, of course, use Tesseral's hosted services. There is a multi-tenant public cloud offering (similar to normal Auth0), and you can also sign up for a dedicated cloud offering (similar to Auth0 Private Cloud). It's pretty quick to get started with the public cloud service -- which is what most people end up using.

If you wish, however, you can simply deploy Tesseral on your own infrastructure or your customer's infrastructure. (See: how to self-host Tesseral.) You don't need any commercial relationship. That means you don't need to spend a ton of money or have any meetings.

You may audit modify Tesseral's source code as you see fit. You can tweak the performance just as you would with your own code.

Who makes Tesseral?

Tesseral is a startup based in San Francisco.

It has raised financing from investors including Y Combinator and Y Combinator founders Paul Graham and Jessica Livingston.

Its team brings experience from companies like Segment (acq. Twilio), Amazon Web Services, and the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) -- designing resilient systems for some of the largest companies in the world.

How hard is it to migrate onto Tesseral?

Surprisingly, not that hard!

Every case is a little bit different, though. If you're interested in exploring what a migration could look like, just book a meeting or email the founders at founders@tesseral.com.