Okta's free developer plan: 10 users, non-production, and what to use instead

Short answer: Okta's free developer offering is the Integrator Free Plan. It gives you an Okta org with 10 active users, for non-production use only. It does not expire, but an inactive org is deactivated after 180 days unless an app has been submitted to the Okta Integration Network. The default rate limit is 100 authentications per minute. If you need more than 10 users, or production use, you need a paid plan or a different product.

This article covers what the free plan is good for, where it stops, and six alternatives that let you run a real login system without the 10-user ceiling.

What the Okta Integrator Free Plan is for

Okta's free tier is aimed at developers building and testing integrations, not at companies running an application.

It is a good fit for:

• building an OIDC or SAML integration against a real Okta org,
• testing SCIM provisioning and attribute mappings,
• preparing an app for the Okta Integration Network (OIN),
• demos and tutorials,
• learning the Okta admin console and API.

It is not a fit for:

• production applications,
• teams larger than 10 active users,
• customer-facing login with real users,
• anything that needs an SLA or support.

The 180-day inactivity rule matters: if you set up an org for a demo and come back six months later, it may already be deactivated. Submitting an app to the OIN is the exception that keeps the org alive.

What Okta costs once you outgrow it

Okta has two product lines with different pricing models. The developer plan belongs to the Customer Identity side, but the paid plans most people compare are Workforce Identity:

Workforce plans are billed annually with a $1,500 annual minimum. Customer Identity is priced differently: a $3,000 per month platform base, with B2C and B2B suites quoted separately and usage metered on top. The full breakdown is in Okta pricing.

For a developer who just wants to test an integration, that jump is the problem: the free plan is 10 users, and the next step is an annual contract.

Six alternatives to the Okta developer plan

1. Casdoor

Casdoor is an Apache-2.0 identity provider with OIDC, SAML 2.0, CAS, SCIM and LDAP support. You can self-host it for free, with no user cap, or use a dedicated managed instance from $9 per month. For a developer who liked the Okta admin console but hit the 10-user limit, it is the closest "real product, no per-user fee" option.

The managed plans start at Basic ($9 per month, one organization and 10 applications, up to 10,000 MAU as sizing guidance) and go up to Premium ($25) and Enterprise ($59). Users are not metered or capped; the plans differ by organizations, custom domains, log retention and support.

2. Keycloak

Keycloak is the reference open-source identity server, Apache-2.0 and a CNCF incubating project. It is free to run in production if you operate it yourself. The trade-off is operational: upgrades, database, backups and high availability are yours. Keycloak 26.8.2 was released in November 2026, and staying current matters for security.

Keycloak is the right choice if you already run Kubernetes or Java services and want maximum control. It is a poor fit if "free" needs to mean "no operations". For the operational side, see managed Keycloak hosting and Keycloak with Docker Compose.

3. Zitadel

Zitadel is AGPL-3.0 and prices by daily active users. The Free plan covers 100 DAU, which is a real production allowance, not a demo. Pro is $100 per month for 25,000 DAU. That makes it generous for B2B products whose users sign in occasionally, and less generous for consumer apps whose users sign in every day.

4. Auth0

Auth0's Free plan covers 25,000 MAU with one enterprise connection. It is the easiest way to get a production login page without running infrastructure. Paid plans start at $35 per month (B2C Essentials) or $150 (B2B Essentials), and enterprise connections are included only in B2B plans. See Auth0 pricing.

5. Logto

Logto is MPL-2.0, with a free cloud tier up to 50,000 MAU and Pro from $24 per month. It is aimed at consumer apps that want a polished sign-in experience without building it. Self-hosting is also supported.

6. authentik

authentik's core is MIT-licensed and self-hostable, with a visual flow editor that appeals to teams replacing Okta's policy editor. Enterprise features are licensed separately. It has no first-party managed cloud, so you run it yourself.

How to choose

Start from what the free plan was for:

• Testing an Okta integration or submitting to the OIN. Stay on the Integrator Free Plan. Ten users is enough for the integration, and the OIN path keeps the org alive.
• A demo or prototype with more than 10 users. Use Casdoor Cloud ($9) or Logto's free tier.
• A production app with consumer users. Compare Auth0's 25,000 MAU and Logto's 50,000 MAU free tiers against your growth curve.
• A B2B product where users sign in occasionally. Zitadel's 100 DAU free tier and $100 Pro plan can be cheaper than MAU pricing.
• An on-prem or data-residency requirement. Self-host Casdoor or Keycloak.
• You want zero operations. Casdoor Cloud, Auth0 or Logto.

One warning: do not build a production system on a developer org. The 10-user limit, the non-production terms and the 180-day inactivity rule are all designed to stop that, and discovering it after launch is expensive.

FAQ

Is the Okta developer plan really free forever? The Integrator Free Plan does not expire, but an org that has been inactive for 180 days is deactivated unless an app has been submitted to the OIN. It is also limited to 10 active users and non-production use.

Can I use the Okta developer plan in production? No. Okta's terms describe it as a non-production environment for exploration and integration testing.

What happens after 10 users? You need a paid Okta plan, which starts at $6 per user per month with a $1,500 annual minimum, or a different product.

Does Okta still call it Developer Edition? The current free offering is the Integrator Free Plan. People still search for "Okta Developer Edition" because that was the earlier name for the free developer org.

Which alternative is closest to Okta? For the admin console and enterprise features, Casdoor is the closest open-source equivalent, and Okta Workforce itself is the closest product if you are willing to pay per user. For a developer just testing OIDC and SAML, Keycloak is the most direct free substitute.

See also Okta alternatives, free identity providers and self-hosted identity providers. Casdoor Cloud plans and prices are on the pricing page.