Identity / Auth / User Management
The clearest split between Cerbos and BoxyHQ is how they charge: Cerbos uses a free tier plus paid plans starting around $0/month, while BoxyHQ uses subscription pricing starting around $770. Cerbos is Open-source authorization service with human-readable YAML policies, RBAC/ABAC, and REST/gRPC evaluation endpoints; it fits best for Apps, B2B. BoxyHQ specializes in Enterprise SSO; it fits best for Apps, B2B. Pick Cerbos for Apps, B2B; pick BoxyHQ for Apps, B2B. Cerbos is not for internal, static projects. BoxyHQ is not for internal, static projects. Honest trade-offs: Cerbos is weak for internal tools with basic auth, and BoxyHQ is weak for internal tools with basic auth — match to your real scenario. Both sit under the Identity / Auth / User Management umbrella, so your final call depends on pricing transparency, integration effort, and which listed not-for situations you can actually tolerate. On pricing, Cerbos uses a free tier plus paid plans starting around $0/month and BoxyHQ uses subscription pricing starting around $770, which materially changes total cost at scale.
Quick take
Cerbos is for apps, b2b; BoxyHQ is for apps, b2b; decide based on pricing model.
| |  BoxyHQ | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Identity / Auth / User Management | Identity / Auth / User Management |
| Pricing Model | freemium | subscription |
| Entry Price | $0/month | $770 |
| Free Tier | Yes | Yes |
| Billing Complexity | — | — |
| Developer Experience | 5/5 | 5/5 |
| Pricing Transparency | 5/5 | 4/5 |
| Lock-in Level | low | low |
| Migration Complexity | — | — |
| Data Portability | — | — |
| Enterprise | Available | Available |
| GitHub Stars | 4.3k | 4.8k |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
Choose Cerbos if you want a free tier plus paid plans starting around $0/month and your workload matches apps, b2b.
Not for: Internal, Static projects
Choose BoxyHQ if you want subscription pricing starting around $770 and your workload matches apps, b2b.
Not for: Internal, Static projects
Check each tool's dedicated page for deeper reviews, setup notes, and pros/cons.
A direct comparison depends on your usage profile and which pricing model fits better. Cerbos has a free tier with paid plans starting at $0/month. BoxyHQ uses subscription pricing starting at $770.
Migration between these is relatively straightforward since both are rated as low lock-in. Plan for data export, re-integration of SDKs, and re-testing flows before cutover. Verify exportable formats and feature parity against your live use cases before committing.
Both score 5/5 on developer experience in our data. Evaluate against your own stack: read their docs, run a quick SDK spike, and check error handling. Self-assessing with a small prototype beats trusting any rating at face value.
BoxyHQ sits in the same category as Cerbos, so it can be a reasonable alternative for overlapping use cases. BoxyHQ is best fit for apps, b2b. Note: BoxyHQ is not for internal, static projects.
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