Cedar policy language
The most recommended of 4 authorization engines
Open-source language for writing authorization policies that can be formally analyzed and return a binary allow or deny decision.
Open-source language for writing authorization policies that can be formally analyzed and return a binary allow or deny decision.
7 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 7
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 4 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 7 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 4 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Requires a server round trip
“you are better suited with a different solution that does not require a server roundtrip like Cedar”
Comment from 16 Mar 2026 in “Event Publisher enables event integration between Keycloak and OpenFGA”
Other authorization engines people recommend
The three most recommended other authorization engines, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cedar policy languageThis page | 7 | 0 | 100% | 4 | — | — |
| OpenFGA | 6 | 0 | 100% | 5 | — | — |
| SpiceDB | 5 | 2 | 71% | 7 | — | — |
| Rego (Open Policy Agent) | 5 | 1 | 83% | 5 | — | — |
What people said
6 of the 7 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“They could have embedded Cedar into their system without adding on-premium burden.”
“If you can't run Lean in production, then their approach is compelling.”
“you are better suited with a different solution that does not require a server roundtrip like Cedar”
“Cedar allows us to write formally analyzable policies that return a binary ALLOW or DENY”
“Policy engines (OPA/Rego, Cedar, Casbin) are excellent at”
“OPA or Cedar enforces policy at runtime.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.