Challenges of CIAM
Balance security and user experience (UX)
Tackling login friction, password fatigue, and account recovery is essential. Passwordless and biometrics can solve but are complex to implement.
Scale and performance
Spikes in traffic can cause login/registration delays and disruptions. Often a poor UX results in customers switching to alternatives.
Data privacy and compliance
Balancing data privacy regulations and high performance is an often-underestimated challenge when building multi-region infrastructure.
Integrations and legacy systems
Modern CIAM implementations are challenged by legacy systems with outdated technologies, dated protocols, and fragmented data, adding expense and time to any project.
Fraud prevention and account takeover
Fraudsters now use sophisticated tools to scale attacks, making legacy security measures obsolete and forcing organizations to constantly evolve their security.
Why Ory for CIAM?
Ory helps secure some of the most visited websites and applications in the world, like OpenAI (ChatGPT), Fandom, and Axel Springer
Massive scale without affecting users
Few vendors could keep up with OpenAI/ChatGBT’s meteoric rise. Ory enables their massive growth, 800M weekly active users, and provides a seamless user experience.
Remove friction and improve security
Social logins, passkeys, SSO, passwordless, WebAuthn, adaptive auth enable you to secure users without adding interruptions.
Deployment flexibility - your choice
From Self-hosted to SaaS, Ory provides the same functionality. Start one way and evolve to another, with Ory you have choice and versatility in how you implement.
Own your authentication flows
Ory alternatives force you to build their way with proprietary software. Ory gives you the freedom to build it your way and provides user telemetry to make it better.
Take a headless, API-first approach
By decoupling the UI from the backend, we provide unmatched flexibility, performance, and security, allowing developers to create across any platform.
Global compliance without the hassle
Ory's global database replication keeps user data consistent and unified across all regions, eliminating synchronization issues and providing a single point of administration.
OpenAI leverages Ory to support over 400M weekly active users (now 800M+)
"By December when we really started moving traffic on our internal system, we were up around 300 million actives. Now, before we've even completed, we've already added another 100 million." - Benjamin Billings, OpenAI
Deploy it your way
Self-hosted to SaaS: full control over your infrastructure, data, and compliance.
Open Source Deployment — Run and try Ory’s Open Source components with maximum flexibility. Perfect to meet your specific use-cases or proof-of-concept your next big idea. 
Ory Enterprise License
OEL Deployment — Leverage Ory's optimized code base with premium support for mission-critical production environments, on-prem, self-hosted – wherever else you need it, always up to date. 
Ory Network
Ory Network deployment — Enable your instant-on global identity system with speed, security, compliance and support for fastest time to value and lowest total cost of ownership.
Dive deeper into specific topics
Modular and modern IAM & CIAM
Open-source powered, fully customizable Identity and Access Management solutions. Use them all or bolt-on individual solutions to satisfy your critical use cases
OAuth 2.0 and OpenID Certified® OpenID Connect server — Cloud native, security-first, headless API security for your infrastructure. 
Cloud native user management system — Provision IDs, store user information, configure authentication methods and use a headless API. 
SAML to OpenID Connect bridge and Directory Sync — API integration for Enterprise SSO and user lifecycle management based on SAML, OIDC, and SCIM-based protocols. 
Identity and Access Proxy (IAP) — Authenticate, authorize and mutate any incoming traffic, using Zero Trust / BeyondCorp as open source. 
Authorization Server inspired by Google Zanzibar — Consistent, global Authorization System, providing granular access policies with RBAC, ABAC and ACL.
More on Ory and CIAM
Cybersecurity
August 06, 2025What’s wrong with legacy CIAM solutions? Organizations tell why they are seeking new and modern solutions
Outdated CIAM systems slowing you down? Learn the 4 reasons organizations are modernizing for better UX, security, and efficiency.
Authentication
July 24, 2025The modern CIAM migration: Why enterprises are abandoning Auth0 for Ory
As applications scale, Auth0's limitations in performance, security, and user experience become critical roadblocks. Discover why enterprises are migrating to Ory, a modern and transparent CIAM platform built with the flexibility and scalability that today's complex applications require.
