# Cerbos

Open-core authorization engine that evaluates access policies for applications and services over HTTP and gRPC.


Source: https://findsoftware.frbit.cloud/cerbos/
Last reviewed: 2026-10-31
Listed since: 2026-10-31

## Record

### Links

- home: https://www.cerbos.dev/
- repository: https://github.com/cerbos/cerbos
- docs: https://docs.cerbos.dev/cerbos/latest/
- pricing: https://www.cerbos.dev/pricing
- x: https://x.com/cerbosdev

### Identity

- status: active
- maintainer: Zenauth Ltd
- maintainerType: company
- parent: unknown
- firstRelease: 2021
- hqCountry: GB

### Kind

- category: auth
- hosting: binary
- language: go
- runtime: binary
- runtimeMin: unknown
- basedOn: unknown

### Content

- contentStore: not applicable
- databases: mysql, postgres, sqlite
- adminUi: not applicable
- headlessApi: not applicable
- templating: not applicable
- i18n: not applicable

### Rendering and deploy

- runsAs: always-on
- renderingModes: not applicable
- installMethod: binary download

### License

- licenseModel: open-core
- license: Apache-2.0

### Releases

- currentMajor: 0
- latestReleaseDate: 2026-10-23

### Adoption

- githubStargazers: 4639
- packagistDownloads: not applicable
- npmWeeklyDownloads: not applicable
- contributors: 34
- pluginCount: unknown
- packagistMonthlyDownloads: unknown
- ecosystemsMonthlyDownloads: unknown
- httpArchiveSites: unknown
- wordpressActiveInstalls: unknown
- dependentRepos: unknown
- dependentPackages: unknown

### Sources

- name: https://github.com/cerbos/cerbos (read 2026-10-31)
- urls: https://www.cerbos.dev/ (read 2026-10-31)
- urls: https://github.com/cerbos/cerbos (read 2026-10-31)
- urls: https://docs.cerbos.dev/cerbos/latest/ (read 2026-10-31)
- urls: https://www.cerbos.dev/pricing (read 2026-10-31)
- maintainer: https://www.cerbos.dev/terms-of-service (read 2026-10-31)
- maintainerType: https://www.cerbos.dev/terms-of-service (read 2026-10-31)
- hqCountry: https://www.cerbos.dev/terms-of-service (read 2026-10-31)
- category: https://github.com/cerbos/cerbos (read 2026-10-31)
- language: https://github.com/cerbos/cerbos (read 2026-10-31)
- runtime: https://docs.cerbos.dev/cerbos/latest/installation/binary (read 2026-10-31)
- installMethod: https://docs.cerbos.dev/cerbos/latest/installation/binary (read 2026-10-31)
- installMethod: https://docs.cerbos.dev/cerbos/latest/installation/container (read 2026-10-31)
- installMethod: https://docs.cerbos.dev/cerbos/latest/installation/helm (read 2026-10-31)
- runsAs: https://docs.cerbos.dev/cerbos/latest/deployment/ (read 2026-10-31)
- databases: https://docs.cerbos.dev/cerbos/latest/configuration/storage (read 2026-10-31)
- databases: https://docs.cerbos.dev/cerbos/latest/configuration/storage (read 2026-10-31)
- databases: https://docs.cerbos.dev/cerbos/latest/configuration/storage (read 2026-10-31)
- license: https://github.com/cerbos/cerbos/blob/main/LICENSE (read 2026-10-31)
- licenseModel: https://github.com/cerbos/cerbos (read 2026-10-31)
- currentMajor: https://github.com/cerbos/cerbos/releases/tag/v0.57.0 (read 2026-10-31)
- latestReleaseDate: https://github.com/cerbos/cerbos/releases/tag/v0.57.0 (read 2026-10-31)
- firstRelease: https://github.com/cerbos/cerbos/releases/tag/v0.0.0-alpha0 (read 2026-10-31)
- githubStargazers: https://github.com/cerbos/cerbos (read 2026-10-31)
- contributors: https://github.com/cerbos/cerbos (read 2026-10-31)

## Notes

Cerbos is an authorization engine: an application sends it a principal, an action and a resource, and it answers whether the action is allowed under the policies it holds. The [deployment guide](https://docs.cerbos.dev/cerbos/latest/deployment/) describes two ways to run it, as a shared service that a group of applications calls or as a sidecar beside each application. The Cerbos PDP listens for HTTP and gRPC requests and keeps no state of its own; the decisions come from the information the calling application passes in.

Policies are stored as files or in a store, and the [storage page](https://docs.cerbos.dev/cerbos/latest/configuration/storage) lists a git repository, a directory on disk, object storage and database-backed stores as places to keep them. The PDP is distributed as a binary, as a container image on the GitHub Container Registry and as a Helm chart. The company behind it, Zenauth Ltd, publishes the site under the Cerbos.dev name.

## Worth knowing

Cerbos Hub is the policy control plane and has a hosted sign-up. The storage page names MySQL as a dynamic store that accepts policy changes at runtime through the Admin API.

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Data licensed CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Attributes are recorded, never scored; absent means unknown.
Credit, in full: FindSoftware, CC BY 4.0