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We're excited to share with you some of our product updates, and tips and tricks in making your identity infrastructure easier and more effective.
This is the February 2024 edition of our newsletter.

## Feature highlights

Our team shipped more than 91 improvements and features in February across all ZITADEL components. Here are some of the highlights in February 2024.

### Organization metadata

With organization metadata, you are able to assign arbitrary information to an organization. This could be, for example, information such as a hierarchical relationship, an internal tenant identifier, or billing information.

With the latest improvements developers can now use the organization metadata in the [complement token flow](https://zitadel.com/docs/apis/actions/complement-token) in Actions. Developers can include a user’s organization metadata into tokens that can be read by receiving applications. An [example on using organization metadata in Actions](https://github.com/zitadel/actions/blob/main/examples/org_metadata_claim.js) is available in our repository.

### Improvements to the official Terraform provider

With the release v1.1.0 of ZITADEL’s official Terraform provider, you can add SAML applications. Moreover, you can generate service user secrets and import service users with an existing secret.

Additionally to the changes mentioned above, we shipped various bug fixes, stability improvements, and enhancements of our documentation.

Make sure to upgrade to the latest version [2.46.0](https://github.com/zitadel/zitadel/releases/tag/v2.46.0) to benefit from the latest features. Consult the [Technical Advisories](https://zitadel.com/docs/support/technical_advisory) for breaking behavior and upgrade recommendations. 

The latest stable version is 2.37.3. You can find the [version of our stable release](https://zitadel.com/docs/support/software-release-cycles-support#stable) information in our documentation.

## More sample apps to secure your favorite language

![Available example apps for zitadel in different programming languages and frameworks such as Angular, Flutter, Go, Java, NestJS, Next.js, Python Django, Python Flask, React, PHP Symfony, Vue.js](/blog/2024-02-29-zitadel-product-newsletter-01.png)

We continued with sample applications to make your authentication and authorization easier in February. These changes also come with a fresh look in our documentation. Have a look at the new example applications:

* [Python Django](https://zitadel.com/docs/sdk-examples/python-django)
* [React](https://zitadel.com/docs/sdk-examples/react)

Are you missing an example or SDK in your favorite language? [Vote and join the discussion](https://github.com/zitadel/zitadel/discussions/7376)

## Tip of the month: Managers are privileged users

Managers are users who have privileged permissions to make changes within ZITADEL itself. This could be changing configurations, creating new users, or assigning roles within an organization.

For example, you can assign a Manager role to the first user of a new organization. With that, you can enable the user to configure SSO and login policies or assign roles to their team in self-service.

Developers can assign a Manager role to service users to make changes via API instead of using the Console.

[Learn how to use Managers](https://zitadel.com/docs/guides/manage/console/managers)

## Building together: Contributions & feedback

### Shape the new user API

We’re actively looking for feedback on our User API. The API is based on the new User Schema, which will allow developers to define the fields of the user, permissions of Managers and users to edit fields, and more.

[Give feedback on the user API](https://github.com/zitadel/zitadel/discussions/7423)

### Community contributions

In February our community contributed over 18 features and fixes to ZITADEL. Our thanks go out to everyone who contributed.

* [jkroepke](https://github.com/jkroepke) made valuable contributions to the oidc library
* [doncicuto](https://github.com/doncicuto) provided several UI fixes to the console
* [dvob](https://github.com/dvob), [mdarii](https://github.com/mdarii), and [filips](https://github.com/filips) contributed important improvements and bug fixes on the operations and deployment functionality.
* [yordis](https://github.com/yordis), [tired-engineer](https://github.com/tired-engineer), [omarmoo5](https://github.com/omarmoo5), and [accir](https://github.com/Accir) helped us fix various typos and improve our documentation

Thanks again for all the big and small contributions, and the countless feedback and improvement ideas. In case you want to contribute, start with our [Contribution Guide](https://github.com/zitadel/zitadel/blob/main/CONTRIBUTING.md).

## What we’re working on

The team works continuously to deliver new features, improvements, and bug fixes. You can review the high-level items on our public [roadmap](https://zitadel.com/roadmap). This month, we started working on these important features. Make sure to subscribe and receive a notification once they are done.

* [Actions V2](https://github.com/zitadel/zitadel/issues/7235), called Executions, allow developers to customize the behavior of ZITADEL. Actions exist today already but are limited to certain flows and triggers. The upgraded version of Actions will allow developers to manipulate requests, manipulate the response, react to events, or hook into predefined trigger points.
* [ZITADEL CLI](https://github.com/zitadel/zitadel/issues/6669), aka. zcli, allows developers to send commands to ZITADEL from the CLI.
* [Impersonation](https://github.com/zitadel/zitadel/issues/7208) enables a functionality to impersonate users to act on behalf of other users. Impersonation will be limited to configurable user groups and will be logged in the audit trail.

## Additional resources

* [Integration guide: MockSAML](https://zitadel.com/docs/guides/integrate/identity-providers/mocksaml)
* [Hosted login vs. custom login user interface](https://zitadel.com/docs/guides/integrate/login/login-users)
* [Log actions to stdout](https://zitadel.com/docs/apis/actions/modules#log)
* [Prevent users from accessing ZITADEL console](https://zitadel.com/docs/guides/solution-scenarios/restrict-console)
* [Why we moved ZITADEL Cloud from CockroachDB to PostgreSQL](https://zitadel.com/blog/move-to-postgresql)


Updates on ZITADEL, and tips and tricks in making your identity infrastructure easier and more effective for February 2024. This edition includes details about the new organization metadata feature, latest examples, and things we are working on right now.

ZITADEL Product Newsletter for February 2024


## Introduction

ZITADEL Cloud recently made a notable shift in its database choice by moving from CockroachDB to PostgreSQL. This operational change was influenced by several factors, which we will explain in this blog. We took proactive steps to inform our valued customers about this infrastructure shift, and we've successfully completed the transition to PostgreSQL within our cloud service. Currently, we are actively working on revising our documentation and examples to reflect this change, i.e., prioritize PostgreSQL over CockroachDB. 
ZITADEL Cloud exclusively operates on Google Cloud Platform (GCP), which plays a significant role in our decision-making process. Our choice to adopt PostgreSQL was made smoother due to our seamless integration with GCP's managed database service, Cloud SQL. This fully managed, highly available PostgreSQL environment enabled us to tap into the scalability, reliability, and security features that GCP offers, all while benefiting from PostgreSQL's strong performance and efficiency.

Additionally, our aim to minimize the involvement of subprocessors and reduce reliance on third-party entities, including our previous discontinuation of Cloudflare services, played a significant role in this decision. This approach aligns with our goal of reducing dependencies on external partners, which not only simplifies control but also decreases the risk of data leakages.

Let’s dive into some of the key factors that drove this shift. 

## Data Residency and Control Concerns

One of the primary drivers behind our switch was concerns about how we managed data and where it was stored. With CockroachDB Dedicated, while we could set data storage regions, controlling the movement of log files and preventing data from ending up in unintended places was a real challenge. That challenge led us to difficulties in assuring our customers that their data would exclusively reside in their designated regions, ultimately influencing our decision to transition to PostgreSQL.

Shifting to PostgreSQL within GCP’s Cloud SQL environment gave us stronger tools for enforcing data residency within specific geographical boundaries. This was and still is vital for complying with regional data protection laws and building trust with our customers.

## Technical Factors 

### Improved Latency and Efficiency

Our decision to switch was also motivated by the need to improve latency and streamline infrastructure efficiency. CockroachDB's global distribution model, while really advantageous for high availability, introduced higher latency and required more compute resources, leading to higher costs. In contrast, PostgreSQL, with its simpler architecture, enabled us to handle larger workloads with improved latency and reduced compute requirements. As a result, ZITADEL Cloud experienced significant enhancements in database query performance and overall system responsiveness. These improvements were particularly noticeable in our reduced API latency.

### Scalability and Infrastructure Optimization

Our decision to shift to PostgreSQL was also rooted in a thorough analysis of our infrastructure needs. For example, running a CockroachDB cluster required 3 nodes per region, each equipped with 8 CPUs and 32 GB of RAM, operating at around 40-50% capacity. In contrast, PostgreSQL allowed us to achieve similar results with significantly fewer resources with 4 CPUs and 16GB of RAM, making our infrastructure utilization more efficient.

Scalability was another factor in our choice. GCP's ability to offer robust configurations combined with PostgreSQL's efficient scaling capabilities allowed us to confidently handle growing workloads. Whether we need to scale vertically or horizontally, PostgreSQL's architecture, coupled with GCP's infrastructure, provides the flexibility we need.

Recent advancements in cloud infrastructure have made PostgreSQL an even more attractive option. We can now vertically scale to machines with substantial resources, like 128 CPUs and nearly a terabyte of memory, addressing our previous scalability concerns in the past. Additionally, PostgreSQL's operational flexibility, including the ability to adjust database costs for different operations and utilize read replicas, gives us more options for scalability and performance optimization.

### Operational Flexibility and Ease of Use

Moving to PostgreSQL also made our operational processes more straightforward. Running a dedicated PostgreSQL cluster in each region provides us with greater flexibility in how we handle tasks like isolated schema changes and rollouts, making data management smoother and less expensive.
For example, optimizing for PostgreSQL was easier due to its non-distributed nature, allowing for straightforward use of transaction IDs. This simplicity was in contrast to the complexities associated with CockroachDB's logical timestamps. PostgreSQL presented a more deterministic and less resource-intensive approach.

## Cost Effectiveness

Financial factors also weighed in our decision-making process. Operating a CockroachDB cluster incurred considerably higher costs compared to a similar configuration with PostgreSQL on Cloud SQL. For instance, we noted that a CockroachDB cluster with 3 nodes (8 CPUs, 32 GB RAM each) was almost three times as expensive as a PostgreSQL setup (4 CPUs, 16 GB RAM) while offering comparable performance per region. This cost difference, coupled with a more straightforward scaling model, made PostgreSQL a more economically viable option.

## Conclusion

The decision to embrace PostgreSQL wasn't straightforward and was influenced by a blend of considerations, including data residency assurance, reduced latency requirements, cost-efficiency, operational flexibility, optimization simplicity, and scalability potential.

It's worth noting that CockroachDB remains extremely valuable, particularly in scenarios where high availability is a non-negotiable requirement, even if it means sacrificing a bit of speed. Essentially, it boils down to a classic trade-off between latency and availability, which you see in all distributed systems. If achieving the lowest possible latency while accommodating minor availability trade-offs is your goal, PostgreSQL emerges as the preferred choice. On the other hand, if ensuring rock-solid availability takes precedence and you can tolerate slightly higher latency, then opting for a CockroachDB cluster is the recommended route. Naturally, cost considerations also factor into this evaluation.






This article delves into ZITADEL Cloud's shift from CockroachDB to PostgreSQL and the reasons behind this database transition.

Why We Moved From CockroachDB to PostgreSQL


We're excited to share with you some of our product updates, and tips and tricks in making your identity infrastructure easier and more effective. 

### New sample apps in VueJS, PHP, and Java

We have set ourselves the goal to make your life as easy as possible —at least for your authentication and authorization needs. Check out these newly added examples and guides for PHP, Vue, and Java to get started in minutes:

* [PHP Symphony](https://github.com/zitadel/example-symfony-oidc)
* [VueJS](https://github.com/zitadel/zitadel-vue)
* [Java](https://github.com/zitadel/zitadel-java)

Are you missing an example or SDK in your favorite language? Let us know by opening an improvement idea. 

[Create an improvement idea](https://github.com/zitadel/zitadel/issues/new/choose)

### Tip of the day: Invite users outside of your organization

![user_grants](/blog/2024-01-31-zitadel-product-newsletter-01.png)

Maybe you didn’t know, but you can invite users from other organizations and assign them authorizations just as for internal users. This is what we call “user grants”, they work the same as for organization grants, but for users.

Do you have partners or agencies managing your customers' organizations on behalf of them? Maybe have a look at user grants and see if that could help you to make this process easier.

[Read more about multi-tenancy](https://zitadel.com/blog/multi-tenancy-with-organizations)

### Build or buy? Anyways, lunch was on us

This month we started a webinar series “Lunch & Learn. First to start was Fabienne, our Head of Product & Co-Founder taking on the topic “Build or Buy?”.

What are build and buy decision factors? And when does the complexity of modern identity management really come into play when rolling your own auth?

Did you miss it? We published the first webinar of the series on our [YouTube channel](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xn_yNzWKfIA&t=315s), including the Q&A with our participants.

Make sure to register for our future webinars on topics such as Beyond Community Bug Fixing, Penetration Testing, or making your applications more secure. Recordings of future webinars will be published only later this year, so make sure to register for the webinar.

[Register for our next webinar](https://share-eu1.hsforms.com/1SPAf60K9QO-QqF7Vqp6s8Q2dljbt)

### What else has changed in ZITADEL?

* We shipped many bug fixes and performance improvements in January
* Improvements in how errors are handled and logged for OpenID Connect functionalities
* Added more functionality (GetUserByID) to the resource-based API, as part of deprecating our service-oriented APIs
* You can now define some resources by name rather than id only when using our [Terraform Provider](https://github.com/zitadel/terraform-provider-zitadel). This should make it easier for many users to apply the same configuration to different environments.

Remember that the latest stable version is 2.37.3. You can find the [version of our stable release](https://zitadel.com/docs/support/software-release-cycles-support#stable) information in our documentation. Make sure to check the [Technical Advisories](https://zitadel.com/docs/support/technical_advisory) for breaking behavior and upgrade recommendations.

### Contributions

We received 18 contributions to our products through our community in January. Thank you very much for your continuous support!

* [doncicuto](https://github.com/doncicuto) provided several fixes to login and console, making it easier for users to navigate, configure, and login to ZITADEL, and contributed a feature to search for users by their email address
* [jkroepke](https://github.com/jkroepke) contributed features and fixes to our OIDC package, improving error messages
* Our Helm Chart received valuable improvements from  [thomaspetit](https://github.com/thomaspetit), [arnouthoebreckx](https://github.com/arnouthoebreckx), and [raunodepasquale](https://github.com/raunodepasquale)
* [tafaust](https://github.com/tafaust) contributed a NodeJS-NestJS example
* [ahmednfwela](https://github.com/ahmednfwela) kindly improved the Flutter example
* [lukasver](https://github.com/lukasver) and [tstenner](https://github.com/tstenner) helped us find errors and typos in our docs

Thanks again for all the big and small contributions, and the countless feedback and improvement ideas. In case you want to contribute, start with our [contribution guide](https://github.com/zitadel/zitadel/blob/main/CONTRIBUTING.md).

### Additional resources

* [New Guide: Onboard your customers and users](https://zitadel.com/docs/guides/solution-scenarios/onboarding)
* [Hands-on Introduction to ZITADEL | Rawkode Livestream](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctkmwzHgIPs&list=WL&index=3)
* [Exciting ZITADEL Features to Watch for in 2024](https://zitadel.com/blog/upcoming-features-2024) 
* [Built with ZITADEL: CrossClassify's Fraud Prevention Solution](https://zitadel.com/blog/success-story-crossclassify)
* [Built with ZITADEL: Open Systems' IAM Strategy for Global Networks](https://zitadel.com/blog/success-story-open-systems)


Updates on ZITADEL, and tips and tricks in making your identity infrastructure easier and more effective for January 2024

ZITADEL Product Newsletter


<img
    src="/blog/2024-01-18-upcoming-features-2024-01.jpg" 
    width="100%"
    alt="Banner Image"
    style={{ margin: '0 auto' }}
  />

## Upcoming Features

After [a year of solid growth and improvements in 2023](https://zitadel.com/blog/recap-2023), we are already gearing up for what 2024 has in store for ZITADEL. Our focus is always on how we can make things better for you, and it’s not just about keeping up; it's about paving the way forward.

In this post, we want to give you a sneak peek into some of the key features on our [roadmap](https://github.com/orgs/zitadel/projects/6/views/1) for 2024. These features and enhancements will help make ZITADEL more intuitive, responsive, and, most importantly, aligned with your needs. We are excited to share these developments and continue our journey together in enhancing your experience with our platform. Here are the top features and offerings for 2024:

### 1. Authentication Examples and SDKs for the Most Used Languages

ZITADEL will be rolling out more easy-to-understand examples and SDKs this year. Whether you are working on a frontend or backend project, you will find clear, hands-on examples that show you how to integrate ZITADEL's authentication into your app. For frontend apps, you will see more examples with session management, user roles, and even how to handle user profiles. For the backend, you will see examples on how to handle various types of access control. All of them will use recommended OIDC libraries or SDKs. 

After setting the stage with these examples, ZITADEL's next move is to bring in more SDKs for languages like Java, Python, and PHP. We are planning to take them up a notch, showing you how to interact with ZITADEL APIs for more complex tasks, like managing user profiles or setting up security features. There will also be a wide range of languages and integration patterns. Whether you are coding in Python, PHP, or Java, or working on a mobile app, there is something in the pipeline for you. Plus, we are looking into making ZITADEL play nice with popular third-party tools. See this [epic](https://github.com/zitadel/zitadel/issues/5124) for more details. 

### 2. ZITADEL Cloud’s Data Region Expansion: Introducing US and EU Hosting in 2024

This year, ZITADEL is taking a significant step forward in its service offerings with the introduction of data regions in the US and EU (European Union). This move is all about giving customers more control and assurance over where their data is hosted.

Data location is a big deal. It's about knowing the specific region, which could be a country or a group of countries, where your data lives. ZITADEL understands that for many businesses and users, where their data is stored is as important as how it is stored. 

ZITADEL's cloud service is already offering a range of regions through Google Cloud Platform. These include:

- **Global:** This is the broadest option, where your data can be hosted in any of the cloud regions offered by ZITADEL’s provider.

- **Switzerland:** For those who prefer their data to stay in Switzerland, this option ensures hosting exclusively within the Swiss region.

- **GDPR Safe Countries:** This is for those who want to align with GDPR guidelines. Data is hosted within EU member states and other countries recognized as adequate under GDPR.

And the big news for this year:

- **US and EU Regions:** Recognizing the demand and importance of these regions, ZITADEL is set to offer cloud instances in both the US and the EU. This expansion means increased flexibility and more choices for businesses and individuals with specific needs or preferences for data hosting in these areas. We expect this expansion to go live by early Q1. As always, keep an eye on our website for the most current information regarding available regions.


### 3. Say Hello to Customizable User Schemas

ZITADEL is about to roll out a game-changer for businesses managing user data—[customizable user schemas](https://github.com/zitadel/zitadel/issues/6433)! This update responds to the growing demand for flexibility in user information management, allowing businesses to tailor user data fields to their specific needs and compliance requirements.

The new user schema feature in ZITADEL enables complete customization of user data fields. Businesses now have the freedom to determine which fields are necessary and which are not, eliminating the need to fill irrelevant fields. This flexibility also extends to defining which fields users can manage on their own and which ones require admin oversight.

Most importantly, despite the customizations, the user sign-in process will remain straightforward. ZITADEL ensures that the system works seamlessly without additional configurations. The update also promises efficient performance, with validations happening swiftly to ensure a smooth user experience. We are keeping it simple and user-friendly. 

We will enhance the user object structure to include a variety of fields like unique IDs, schema types, contact information, and custom profile fields, aligning with various user types. The introduction of a diverse range of authenticators will further enrich user interaction, catering to different security and access needs.

Incorporating JSON Schema Validation, the new feature allows robust validation of fields, ensuring data integrity and compliance. This flexibility also extends to management methods, with comprehensive options for creating, updating, and deleting users and schemas. Keep an eye out for this; it's going to make life a whole lot easier!


### 4. Custom Actions for Every Event and API Request

ZITADEL will be [extending actions to let you create custom actions](https://github.com/zitadel/zitadel/issues/7235) for every event, API call, and the functions you are already used to in ZITADEL. This means you can now tailor custom workflows to fit your exact needs. With this feature, you will be able to add your code, your own rules, right into ZITADEL's events and API calls. Whether it's an event in the system or an API request you are making, you will be able to hook in custom actions. 

- **Event-Based Actions:** You can attach actions to specific events within ZITADEL. After the event is stored, you decide when your custom action should kick in.

- **API Request Actions:** Similarly, for any API request, you can define actions to occur at different stages—during the request or in the response phase.

- **Multi-Event Actions:** And here's the kicker-you can create actions that run across multiple events. Think of it as a way to implement a consistent response or workflow across various parts of the system.

For developers, this feature is a game-changer. It means you can integrate ZITADEL more deeply into your systems and workflows. You are no longer just reacting to a few points during code execution—you gain the full flexibility of the programming language of your choice to customize the behavior of ZITADEL and react to events in real time. This level of customization is unprecedented and will unlock new ways of leveraging ZITADEL for your projects.



### 5. Streamlining User Management with Outbound Provisioning via SCIM

In 2024, ZITADEL will roll out a pretty cool feature that's going to make life a lot easier for businesses using Single Sign-On (SSO)—[outbound provisioning with SCIM (System for Cross-domain Identity Management)](https://github.com/zitadel/zitadel/issues/6601), and it's all about simplifying how user accounts sync up with external systems and applications.

Many SSO systems need a user account to already exist in their platform. Plus, these accounts must stay updated, especially when someone's status changes in the identity provider. This can get tricky when you're juggling multiple systems.

Understanding the need for pre-existing user accounts in many SSO systems, and the importance of keeping user statuses in sync with Identity Providers (IdPs), ZITADEL's solution focuses on extended actions. These allow for real-time updates and custom integrations with third-party systems, overcoming the challenges posed by standard SCIM implementations. This approach is not only more flexible but also caters to diverse use cases, offering businesses the ability to tailor their user management workflows.

Extended actions offer several advantages:
- They adapt to various third-party systems, allowing for a more personalized approach to user management.
- Changes in user accounts are instantly reflected across systems, ensuring up-to-date information.
- Supporting SCIM and generic API endpoints, this feature broadens the scope of integration possibilities.

The new feature enhances functionality through:
- Changes in user status automatically initiate actions, enabling immediate response to user management events.
- Fine-tuned control over actions based on user metadata or attributes.
- Options for executing REST calls or utilizing a SCIM module, enhancing data synchronization flexibility.
- Including all aspects of user management like creating, reading, updating, deleting, enabling/disabling users, and schema discovery.
- Detailed Documentation and Testing: Ensuring ease of integration and understanding.


### 6. Enhancing Team and Organization Onboarding with Improved Invitation Flows

ZITADEL is addressing a vital need in the B2B sector: [better and more intuitive ways to invite team and organization members](https://github.com/zitadel/zitadel/issues/7083). Recognizing the importance of streamlined team management and onboarding processes, ZITADEL is set to introduce enhanced invitation flows that cater to the specific requirements of business-to-business scenarios.

The proposed solution focuses on empowering managers to invite new users to their organization effortlessly. Here’s what it entails:

- **Email Invitations:** Users can be invited through an email containing a registration link specific to the organization from which the invite was sent.

- **SSO Integration:** If Single Sign-On is enabled, invitees have the option to sign up using an external identity provider, enhancing the ease of the onboarding process.

- **Customizable Email Texts:** The content of the invitation emails can be tailored to match the organization's tone and branding, offering a personalized touch.


This update is more than just about inviting members; it’s about enabling comprehensive team management within an application. This includes creating a new organization, appointing an admin user, configuring security settings like SSO and 2FA, and assigning roles to users. ZITADEL aims to make this process as intuitive as possible, addressing the common challenge of balancing authentication, authorization, and self-service configuration in cloud solutions.

ZITADEL recognizes that creating a custom onboarding experience is a frequent requirement. The new update will make it easier to understand and implement various methods for user registration, whether it’s through username/password, external IdPs, or social logins.
This feature will further enhance the critical aspects of the B2B onboarding process. 


### 7. User Group Authorizations

In 2024, ZITADEL will also introduce [user group authorizations](https://github.com/zitadel/zitadel/issues/5822), a game-changing feature for administrators. This update streamlines the way permissions and roles are managed by leveraging group-based authorizations. Its key advantages are:

- **Group-Based Access Control:** Admins can now manage permissions at the group level, rather than for individual users, saving time and reducing complexity.

- **Easy User and Group Management:** Features include creating, updating, searching, and deleting groups. Users can be added effortlessly or removed from these groups.

- **Merged Authorizations:** A standout feature where individual user roles are seamlessly combined with their group roles, enhancing flexibility and ensuring comprehensive access rights.

- **Integrated Authorization Visibility:** Group authorizations are integrated into tokens and user information, maintaining consistency across the platform.

In essence, ZITADEL's user group authorizations simplify and enhance access management, making it more efficient for administrators, especially in larger organizations. 


## Let's Go

As we wrap up our preview of what 2024 holds for ZITADEL, we are genuinely excited and hope you are too. A lot of hard work is going into developing these features, and we're eager for you to start using them. Make sure to stay tuned for our release announcements.

Your continuous support and feedback are what drive us. So, thank you for being an integral part of our journey. Here's to a groundbreaking year ahead!







This article provides an insightful overview of the exciting new features and updates that ZITADEL is set to roll out in 2024.

Exciting ZITADEL Features to Watch for in 2024

As we approach the end of 2023, it's an excellent time to reflect on how ZITADEL progressed throughout the year. We've remained committed to our promise of continuous innovation and delivering exceptional user experiences, as we set out to do at the beginning of the year.

ZITADEL significantly enhanced the developer experience by focusing on two key areas: API design and documentation. Firstly, we made a significant shift in our API design, moving towards a [resource-based approach](https://zitadel.com/blog/resource-api). This shift wasn't just a change; it was a strategic move to make our APIs more intuitive and developer-friendly. 

Then there's our documentation overhaul, making it more informative and user-friendly. This revamp was coupled with a streamlined onboarding process, designed to be quicker and more intuitive, particularly benefiting new users who are integrating ZITADEL into their systems for the first time. 

Here's a look back at the significant milestones we achieved:

## A Detailed Recap of ZITADEL's Product Features and Enhancements in 2023

###  Authentication and Identity Management

- **[Configurable Social/Enterprise Identity Provider Templates](https://zitadel.com/docs/guides/integrate/identity-providers):** We launched new social and enterprise SSO options, expanding our identity provider support to include Google, Github, Gitlab, Microsoft Azure AD, and Apple.
- **[Self-Hosting with Terraform](https://zitadel.com/docs/guides/manage/terraform/basics):** Simplified management of ZITADEL resources for a seamless setup.
- **[OIDC Version 2.0 Release](https://zitadel.com/blog/oidc-v2-release):** This was a significant update to our OpenID Connect library, including device authorization and token exchange.
- **[LDAP Login](https://zitadel.com/docs/guides/integrate/identity-providers/ldap):** Integration with Active Directory/LDAP for enabling the use of legacy systems as identity providers. 
- **[Device Authorization Grant](https://zitadel.com/blog/device-authorization):** Acknowledging the challenge of text input on certain devices, we implemented OAuth 2.0 Device Authorization Grant for a smoother user experience on input-constrained devices.
- **Email and SMS OTP Support:** Introduced one-time password for two-factor authentication.
- **ZITADEL API V2:** We've boosted our API with enhanced user registration and email verification features. Now in the beta stage, it allows you to create custom login interfaces and enables effective session management. Additionally, it supports integration with external providers, multifactor authentication options like TOTP and U2F/WebAuthN, streamlined password reset processes, and customizable methods for crafting your own login UI. This upgrade is all about giving you more control and flexibility.

### Security and Compliance

- **Event Audit Log with Advanced Filters and Threat Detection:** Our new audit log feature provides a comprehensive view of all actions and modifications, enhancing security and compliance capabilities.
- **[Client Credentials](https://zitadel.com/docs/guides/integrate/client-credentials) as JWT & PAT Alternative:** We introduced a third authentication method for service accounts, offering more flexibility.
- **Improved Password Change Notifications and Logging:** Enhanced security measures for user account management.
- **Support for Multiple Hashing Algorithms, Including PBKDF2:** Strengthened password hashing and migration capabilities. See the [ZITADEL passwap package]( https://github.com/zitadel/passwap), which provides a unified implementation between different password hashing algorithms. 
- **Technical Advisories and Updates:** We introduced [technical advisories](https://zitadel.com/docs/support/technical_advisory) to inform users about critical issues and updates for seamless operations.
- **Amplified Penetration Testing:** Complementing our secure coding practices, we intensified [third-party penetration tests](https://zitadel.com/blog/tags/pentest) and continued to encourage researchers to responsibly test and disclose vulnerabilities through our [disclosure policy](https://zitadel.com/docs/legal/policies/vulnerability-disclosure-policy). Adhering to this process, we consistently published [security advisories on GitHub](https://github.com/zitadel/zitadel/security/advisories) and proactively informed affected users and customers about any vulnerabilities.

### Developer Experience and Customization

- **Custom Claims and Role Integration:** Actions now allow for enhanced token customization, such as flat role claims and custom claims. This adds flexibility to include additional attributes in SAML responses as well.
- **Customizable Login UI:** ZITADEL now allows businesses to craft their own user interface for login, offering greater flexibility and personalization, along with guides to customize the login experiences using ZITADEL APIs.
- **Language Support:** Added Polish, Japanese, Spanish, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Brazilian Portuguese, Russian, and Dutch thanks to many contributions from our community.
- **Improved Onboarding Process:** An interactive in-app approach for a smoother user experience.

### Platform Enhancements and Integrations

- **Event Store Optimizations:** With ZITADEL's unique approach to event sourcing and CQRS, users can follow along the change track of the system. During the year, we took a big step forward in improving performance and parallel requests, and we prepared the storage layer for future improvements. Stay tuned for the upcoming blog series, which covers all the details of our journey. 
- **General Availability of PostgreSQL Support in ZITADEL:** PostgreSQL support is now fully integrated and generally available in ZITADEL, complete with Enterprise support. For more details, visit our guide on [managing databases with ZITADEL](https://zitadel.com/docs/self-hosting/manage/database).
- **Migration Guides:** We've developed thorough guides to smoothly transition your systems from platforms like [Auth0](https://zitadel.com/docs/guides/migrate/sources/auth0) and [Keycloak](https://zitadel.com/docs/guides/migrate/sources/keycloak) to ZITADEL, ensuring a hassle-free migration experience.


## Team and Community Updates

<figure>
  <img
    src="/blog/2023-12-29-recap-2023-01.png" 
    width="100%"
    alt="Team Retreat"
    style={{ margin: '0 auto' }}
  />
  <figcaption>
  The ZITADEL Team in Bucharest in October 
  </figcaption>
</figure>

### Welcoming New Team Members

[Tim Mohlmann](https://www.linkedin.com/in/tim-mohlmann/) joined as a Software Engineer, enhancing our development team with his technical expertise. Next, [Jason Burkhead](https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonburkhead-06/) came on board as an Account Executive, bringing a new dynamism to our sales strategies.

### Team Retreats

Our first retreat in May in the scenic town of Habkern in Interlaken was a blend of team bonding and strategic planning amidst the beauty of Switzerland. In October, the team gathered in Bucharest,  absorbing the vibrant culture of Romania and fostering strong team unity.

### Community Engagement and Achievements

- **Contributions from the Community:** We had over a hundred contributions this year and would like to acknowledge and thank all our external contributors for their significant role in enhancing ZITADEL's features and functionalities.

- **Discord Community Grows to 1500 Members**: This milestone is a clear reflection of the engaging nature of our platform and the supportive spirit of our user base. We have an expanding community of enthusiasts and professionals who actively contribute to and benefit from our [Discord channel](https://zitadel.com/chat).

- **5750 GitHub Stars**: ZITADEL hit 5750 GitHub stars, a clear indicator of our growing influence and acceptance in the open-source community. This achievement is a collective success, made possible by the incredible support of our community members. Our [GitHub repository](https://github.com/zitadel/zitadel) continues to be a hub of innovation and collaboration. 


## New Updated Subscription Model: Aligning with Customer Needs

In 2023, ZITADEL took a customer-centric approach to update our subscription model for ZITADEL Cloud. 

In response to feedback from our users, we transitioned to using **Daily Active Users (DAUs)** as the primary metric for our subscriptions. We designed this shift from the previous request-based model to provide a clearer, more predictable structure that closely aligns with user engagement. The updated subscription plans are now more intuitive and tailored to actual usage, ensuring that our services resonate with your daily operations. The plans were made available for all customers, with existing subscribers given the option to switch at their convenience.

For a comprehensive overview of the subscription model, please see [ZITADEL's New Pricing](https://zitadel.com/pricing). Here, you'll find all the necessary details to understand how these changes might affect your current usage and future plans.

This update was a significant step in ZITADEL's journey this year, reflecting our commitment to evolving with market needs and enhancing customer experience.


## Recognition and Achievements in 2023

- **Featured in Star History Monthly Pick**: In January 2023, ZITADEL was featured in the Star History Monthly Pick. This feature by Star History HQ delved into the story behind our project, showcasing our journey and the impactful strides we've made in the identity and access management domain. The article is available for a detailed read at [Star History](https://star-history.com/blog/star-history-monthly-pick-202301).

- **Top 100+ Developer Tools for 2022 by StackShare**: ZITADEL's commitment to simplifying identity and access management for developers was further acknowledged when we were listed among the Top 100+ Developer Tools for 2022 by StackShare. For more information, visit [StackShare](https://stackshare.io/posts/top-developer-tools-2022).

- **Fastest-Growing Open-Source Startups in Q1 2023 ROSS Index**: The first quarter of 2023 brought us another significant milestone. ZITADEL was ranked among the fastest-growing open-source startups in the Q1 2023 ROSS Index. We extend our gratitude to Runa Capital for this recognition. To learn more about our ranking, visit the [ROSS Index](https://runacap.com/ross-index/q1-2023).

- **Switzerland's Most Influential Information Services Startups for 2023**: ZITADEL was honored with this award by Startup Bubble, recognizing our significant role in the information services sector. They positioned ZITADEL prominently in the fields of cybersecurity and web security in Switzerland. For more information about this recognition, visit [Startup Bubble](https://startupbubble.news/what-are-switzerlands-most-influential-information-services-startups-in-2023).

## Thank You

![Thank you](/blog/2023-12-29-recap-2023-02.png)

These updates highlight ZITADEL's commitment to providing a robust, secure, and user-friendly platform. We've made changes across the board to ensure our platform not only meets but exceeds the expectations of our users and the developer community.

As we wave goodbye to 2023, we're buzzing with excitement for the new horizons 2024 will bring. A huge shoutout to our awesome community and customers—your support, feedback, and ideas have been the secret sauce in ZITADEL's growth this year.

So, here's raising a toast to more innovation and even better user experiences! Wishing you all a fantastic and happy 2024! 



This post looks back at the pivotal moments and key updates that have shaped ZITADEL's journey in 2023

ZITADEL's 2023 in Review: Key Highlights and Updates


We had our inaugural team retreat in May 2023. And looking back, the experience was nothing short of remarkable! For the first time, we gathered the entire team of 13 people in one location. This gathering went beyond work-related matters; it was about the team culture, getting to know each other, and building a great team.

As we transition towards being a remote-first company, we’re placing heightened emphasis on these aspects, striving to create an environment where everyone feels valued, included, and inspired to succeed.

## Our Workplace Evolution

Four years ago, our company began an exciting journey with a unique workplace story. In the early days, we didn't have a set office. Instead, we met in different coffee shops in St. Gallen. It was a fun start, but not a long-term solution. Our friend Ole, who owns Brüw pub in St. Gallen, helped us out. Since his pub was only open in the evening, we made a deal and started working there during the day. This gave us a stable place to work without having to look for a new spot every day.

In January 2020 we decided to rent our first office. But unfortunately, three months later the pandemic hit and we had to work from home. We never really finished setting up our office. When we could go back, only a few of us did. So, by the end of the year, we decided to give up our office and become a fully remote company. This move has also made us more inclusive and flexible, as we hired our first team member from outside the country.

## Embracing Company Culture in a Remote-first World

With the transition to become a fully remote company, we also started to place greater focus on our company culture. In the past, socializing and bonding after work came naturally when we shared office space or lived close to one another. However, with colleagues spread across different countries, we recognized the need to foster connections deliberately.

To combat this geographical separation, we host monthly online team events and commit to in-person gatherings twice a year. We appreciate the value in cultivating personal relationships that extend beyond digital interactions. . Our goal is to create a company where everyone feels not only welcome and motivated but also empowered to voice their ideas.

## Gathering the Team

The goal for our first team retreat was simple: get the team together and have fun. As we started planning, we decided to mix fun activities, team hangouts, and a workshop on company culture. This basic plan helped us start looking for the right place to stay.

### Finding the Right Spot

None of us had planned something like this before, so we chose to stay within Switzerland, where we were familiar with how things work, yet away from our usual workspace. This brought us to Habkern, a beautiful village near Interlaken. The place we rented was nice, though it didn’t check all our boxes completely. While technically accessible via public transport, it wasn’t very convenient. However, since we came by car, this wasn’t a big issue.

We thought cooking most of our meals would be a fun bonding experience (we all know the best parties happen in the kitchen ;) ), but we also wanted one dinner out for a carefree evening. With only eight meals in total, this worked out perfectly. We enjoyed a range of foods, from BBQ to fondue and wraps.

Finding the right location can be tough, and you might want to consider things like:

- Space and capacity
- A large table or area where everyone can gather
- Location
- Privacy and exclusivity
- Kitchen facilities and dining options
- Nearby activities
- Budget
- Reviews and recommendations

Given the unpredictable spring weather in Switzerland, it was challenging to plan outdoor activities. We made sure the lounge area was large enough for the whole team. Luckily, the weather turned out better than expected, and we thoroughly enjoyed our time outside.

<figure>
  <img src="/blog/2023-05-25-team-retreat-01.jpg" width="100%" alt="The team preparing lunch." />
</figure>

### Fun and Games

Part of our retreat involved organizing leisure activities. This gave us a chance to chat, relax, and share some laughs. The weather did force us to mix up our plans a bit.

On the first afternoon, we had a blast at a rope park. For most of the team, it was their first time at such a place. After a safety run-through, we all tried out the first route together to get the hang of it. The routes had different difficulty levels, so we naturally split into groups. We had a great time cheering each other on through the tricky parts where we felt a bit unsure. It was a brilliant combo of fun, learning new skills, and for some of us, even beating our fears 😃.

<figure>
  <img src="/blog/2023-05-25-team-retreat-02.jpg" width="100%" alt="The team on ropes at the rope park." />
</figure>

The next day, we decided on the spur of the moment to go for a two-hour hike around Habkern, taking advantage of the unexpectedly sunny weather. The freedom to do whatever we wanted without sticking to a tight schedule was refreshing. The hike gave us not only good laughs but also a chance to bond and communicate.

For the evening, we initially planned a game night with various quick games, but as the day went on, we realized we might not have time for all of them. So we chose just one game before heading out for dinner: the music guessing game. We split into pairs and took turns playing different songs, enjoying the thrill of recognizing some tunes and the challenge of figuring out the harder ones. It was fun to see how quickly (or not so quickly) we could guess the songs.

<figure>
  <img src="/blog/2023-05-25-team-retreat-03.jpg" width="100%" alt="The team on a hike." />
</figure>

### Team Development Through a Workshop

We believe everyone should have the chance to contribute to making ZITADEL an even better place to work. So, we used the retreat as an opportunity for team development. We considered various options, from hiring an external company for a workshop to using our own expertise. Largely due to time constraints (yes, we were a bit late 😀), we decided to run a workshop ourselves, using a guided platform.

If you ever need to host something on your own, we recommend [Toolbox](https://toolbox.hyperisland.com/). You can filter by category, time frame, and group size to find suitable workshops. We picked the [Team Self-Assessment Workshop](https://toolbox.hyperisland.com/team-self-assessment), which was great for coming up with ideas, addressing challenges, and pinpointing areas where we needed to focus to improve our company.

In the end, it was inspiring to see how much time and effort everyone put into contributing to the discussions. Moving forward, we realized we need to set aside more time for activities like this. When you have a lot of people and opinions, discussions can take longer, and people need breaks to keep their focus sharp.

<figure>
  <img src="/blog/2023-05-25-team-retreat-04.jpg" width="100%" alt="The team at the workshop." />
</figure>

## Lessons Learned

Looking back, our first retreat was a success, full of wonderful memories. Nonetheless, as with any first-time experience, we also gathered some useful insights that we'd like to share.

1. **Time**: Our retreat lasted for two full days, with extra days for arrival and departure. In the future, we think we need more time, as the event seemed to go by too quickly. More time would be especially beneficial for colleagues coming from other countries, as a short trip can be stressful. We also plan to avoid scheduling arrival and departure days on weekends, if possible.
2. **Information Sheet**: We shared important details in the company chat leading up to the retreat, but we found out that not everyone could remember everything. To solve this, we plan to create a detailed information sheet for future retreats. This will include key details like arrival/departure times, a loose schedule (excluding certain activities to keep them a surprise), items to bring, and how to get to the venue.
3. **Transport**: We used private cars for this retreat, but for the next one, we're thinking of choosing a place that's easy to reach by public transport. This would mean we wouldn't need drivers and would make travel easier for everyone.
4. **Meal Planning and Cooking Groups**: Our meal setup worked well for this retreat, as we didn't have many meals. For future retreats, though, we're considering creating cooking groups. Each group would be in charge of one meal, giving us a chance to try foods from different countries within our team.

By putting these insights into action and listening to feedback from the team, we're confident that our future retreats will be even more memorable, enjoyable, and smoothly run.

## Building Upon the Success of Our First Team Retreat

To sum up, our first team retreat marked an important milestone in our journey as a remote-first company. It brought us closer, strengthened our bonds, and gave us valuable insights for future retreats. We are grateful for the opportunity to gather in person, experience thrilling adventures, and engage in meaningful conversations. As we move forward, we are excited to build upon the success of this retreat, incorporating the lessons learned and continuously refining our approach. Our commitment to fostering a supportive and inclusive team culture is unwavering, and we can't wait for the next stage of our team retreat journey. . Stay tuned for more incredible stories and shared experiences from our remote-first team.

Cheers,

**_The ZITADEL Team_**

<figure>
  <img src="/blog/2023-05-25-team-retreat-05.jpg" width="100%" alt="Team picture." />
</figure>


This article recounts the journey of our first team retreat as a remote-first company.

Reuniting Across Boundaries: Our Unforgettable First Team Retreat

Last month, we said goodbye to the old year by reflecting on the **[many ways ZITADEL improved in 2022](https://zitadel.com/blog/best-of-zitadel-2022)**. Now that that is all said and done, it is time to **take a peek at the horizon**.

As a company that always strives for innovation in an ever-changing digital world, our biggest goal is to **provide our customers with the best possible user experience and the most value for their money** by constantly keeping ZITADEL up to date. This article showcases **the most significant features [scheduled to launch in the year 2023](https://zitadel.com/roadmap).**

## 1. Configurable Social/Enterprise Login Templates

After lengthy anticipation, **the new [social login](https://zitadel.com/blog/social-logins) options for ZITADEL** are just around the corner!

Social login, and more generally [identity brokering](https://zitadel.com/blog/what-is-an-identity-broker), is an authentication method that utilizes users’ pre-existing **social media identities to facilitate sign-ups** on third-party platforms. This popular alternative for the standard username-password login **does not require completing a registration form**, thus saving you valuable time and the hassle of remembering yet another password.

Whereas thus far, ZITADEL has exclusively supported OIDC-compliant identity providers, this restriction will soon be completely removed to provide a **wider range of options** - ensuring that both you and your customers can **seamlessly log in using your preferred social media profiles**.

Our new identity providers include:

* Google
* Github
* Gitlab
* and Azure AD

## 2﻿. Fully customizable Login UI

Ever since the launch of the platform, ZITADEL has enabled businesses to **seamlessly authenticate their users with a customizable [hosted login and registration page](https://zitadel.com/docs/guides/solution-scenarios/b2c#hosted-login)**: a fixed authentication endpoint that is secure by default. Whereas so far, you have had the option to disable the hosted registration page and **build your onboarding process from scratch**, a **custom login API was not yet implemented**. While the hosted login page offers various personalization options for branding purposes - such as colors, logo, and typography – the range of potential alterations is ultimately limited. 

Within the course of 2023, we would like to give businesses with specific needs the option to **replace the default hosted login page and build their [own login User Interface (UI)](https://github.com/zitadel/zitadel/issues/5015).** While this alternative will completely lift the limitation on the scope of aesthetic personalization, the core functionality of the custom login UI will remain unchanged to satisfy the highest security standards.

## 3. New Event Audit Log – Filters and Threat Detection

Thousands of **modifications are performed on ZITADEL instances every minute**, ranging from minor adjustments like adding a user nickname to prominent ones like an improved password policy. Every crucial information about these so-called “events” is **collected and stored in a log** - including the event’s date, description, and the user who initiated it.

With the introduction of the **new ZITADEL event audit log**, every action and modification performed on an organization will be **accessible and reviewable directly in the console or via our APIs**. Users may utilize a variety of filters to quickly and efficiently sort and find specific events. Having this report readily available will not only **facilitate general surveillance,** but also **troubleshooting security investigations, and compliance reporting**. Should you detect a suspicious event (such as unauthorized access), the audit log allows you to flag and report it right away.

Furthermore, the log will provide developers the opportunity to **create an action using custom code** for each possible ZITADEL event, enabling them to construct unique workflows.

## 4. Client Credentials as JWT & PAT Alternative

In the year 2022, ZITADEL’s service accounts could **authenticate by using a JSON Web Token (JWT)-Profile** or directly generate a **[Personal Access Token (PAT)](https://zitadel.com/blog/new-personal-access-token)** for authorization. While the former method is undoubtedly the more secure path to take, it is not universally supported. As a response, PATs were introduced to authenticate service users that have trouble integrating their accounts with JWT Profile.

Since both of these options come with their respective weaknesses in terms of compatibility and usability, we have decided to implement a **3rd alternative to authenticate service accounts: [Client Credential Grant](https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc6749#section-4.4)**. By using this grant type, clients are enabled to request an access token to **retrieve protected resources under their control** or those of **another resource owner** that have been previously arranged with the authorization server.

## 5. Device Authorization Grant

While obtaining an access token should be quick and simple, **authenticating a device that does not have an easy way to enter text** can be frustrating at best and impossible at worst.

In the following months, ZITADEL aims to fix this inconvenience by **implementing [Device Authorization Grant](https://github.com/zitadel/oidc/issues/264)**. This extension **allows input-constrained devices,** such as smart TVs and printers, as well as **devices with no browser**, **to obtain an access token** with the help of a secondary device.

## 6. More ZITADEL Cloud Data Regions

When it comes to **data processing**, there is no "one size fits all"; different businesses tend to have their main customer base, offices, and headquarters at distinct locations. The country or **region where an institution will store and process your organization’s data should be carefully considered** to prevent latency problems and possible data loss.

Since the latest version of ZITADEL Cloud launched in 2022, the platform’s **SaaS service offers [three data regionality options](/docs/legal/service-description/cloud-service-description#data-location)** to choose from: Switzerland, Global, and GDPR-compliant regions. To facilitate our customers' decision in choosing the right data center, the latter two options **automatically select three housing regions** based on the locality of end-users.

While this automation comes as a big help to many, in 2023, we would also like **to give users more directly selectable data locations to choose from**, such as “Germany”, “Japan” or “Canada”. Which locations are ultimately chosen will rely on both user demand and if they adhere to ZITADEL's privacy standards.

Do you have a data region you would like to suggest? **Please feel free to share your ideas on [Github](https://github.com/zitadel/zitadel) or by contacting us directly.**

## 7. Improved Developer Experience

Since documentation is essential for offering **additional information about a platform's functionality**, ensuring that the guides are coherent and easily comprehensible should be a top priority.

In the following months, ZITADEL is planning a **complete rewrite of its [documentation](https://zitadel.com/docs)** that will additionally **provide a more efficient way to explore our APIs** and **more example applications in your language of choice** to facilitate your onboarding process.

But documentation is not enough to offer a great experience and have a pre-configured ZITADEL platform that is ready to use within minutes. This year, we are implementing some **essential tweaks** that will make this **onboarding process faster and easier than ever,** including:

* New users will be offered additional assistance with the first relevant steps.
* Fewer steps will be needed to create a new instance.
* Relevant settings will be easier to find with the help of an improved console.

 An **improved documentation, quickstarts and an easy to understand user interface** make it overall faster and easier to use ZITADEL. Not only to get started quickly, but also to make it your own.

## 8. More Trust

We are happy that our **community of open source and ZITADEL Cloud users is thriving** and many discussions and questions happen in the open on Github or our [Chat](http://zitadel.com/chat). However, there are situations when **disclosing some private information is necessary to resolve a problem**. So far, our customers have only been able to do so via email. Our goal is to provide a **more seamless private and secure support channel** to share relevant information directly with our engineers to get help as easily as possible.

**Transparency and Support** are keystones for us in building trust. This year we want to prove that we are **fully committed to safeguarding your data**. Not only are we **[GDPR-compliant](https://zitadel.com/gdpr)**, and conduct regular security audits of our platform and **[publish the results on our website](https://zitadel.com/blog/tags/pentest)**, but we strive to certify our information security standards through an external audit this year. With that, we can provide you with certifications for the highest compliance requirements.

This article showcases the most significant features scheduled to launch in the year 2023.

8 Exciting New Features Coming to ZITADEL in 2023


![Recap of 2022 with people raising their glasses in the background](/blog/2022-12-29-best-of-zitadel-2022-00.png)

Another long year is slowly ending and it is almost time to drown our sorrows in champagne and turn a new page in life.
However, before we plunge too deeply into our fresh new year’s resolutions, we are taking a moment to reflect on the milestones we have reached this year and to express our gratitude for the overwhelming support we were given along the way. 

This brief recap showcases the most significant ways ZITADEL has improved in the year 2022. 

## We Raised $2.5 Million!
One of the most significant milestones in ZITADEL's development was the successful closing of our seed funding round led by [Nexus Venture Partners](https://nexusvp.com/).
Ever since the [big announcement](/blog/fundraising-nexus) saw the light in June, this generous grant has played a vital role in helping ZITADEL become the best open-source alternative for identity management needs. 

With this incredible achievement under our belts, we are beyond excited to see what else we can accomplish with our remarkable supporters and valued customers on our side.

## Introducing our next major release of ZITADEL
In August of 2022, ZITADEL underwent its most significant upgrade to date.
The new version introduced a [new selection of features and upgrades](https://github.com/zitadel/zitadel/releases/tag/v2.0.0) that ensure easier use, expanded compatibility, more value for your money and, as always, still the highest possible data security. 

The most significant changes brought on by V2.x include the following: 
- [New Virtual Instances](/blog/introducting-v2-0#:~:text=New%20Virtual%20Instances,by%20the%20platform.)
- Extended database compatibility to [PostgreSQL](/blog/postgresql-support)
- [More Social Logins](/blog/social-logins#:~:text=ZITADEL%20will%20support,for%20all%20users.) and
- [Easier Development](/blog/introducting-v2-0#:~:text=Easier%20to%20Develop,features%20more%20straightforward.)
- The implementation of [SAML 2.0](/blog/saml-support)

While the development team focused on new upgrades and implementations, the UI and UX department was responsible for enhancing ZITADEL's visual appeal and ease of use.
With the help of a reimagined navigation system, content filters, keyboard shortcuts, and [many more new features](https://github.com/zitadel/zitadel/issues/2944), the new console of ZITADEL is now easier to use than ever before.

## Relaunch Of Our Cloud Service
Concurrently with the release of  ZITADEL’s new version, we also relaunched our cloud service. Instead of being limited to single organizations, each of our customers can now set up new instances - an own logically separated setup of ZITADEL - from our customer portal. This also came with features to make ZITADEL Cloud invisible to your users, like using a custom domain for your login page and defining your own SMTP server for emails.

Given all of the improvements ZITADEL undertook this year, it was time for us to revisit our cloud pricing structure as well. We swiftly identified the path the adjustments should take concerning our core philosophy of not placing a premium on security features: 

To allow users to gradually expand the platform based on their organization’s specific needs, we have removed subscription tiers and their respective feature locks altogether.
With these changes implemented, our users are granted a platform that scales along the rest of your infrastructure requirements with [more features](/blog/pricing-updates-v2) to enjoy than ever.

Our pricing also differentiates us in the market and resembles the cost of infrastructure more closely than a per-seat cloud service. We are the best identity management platform for not only consumer identities but also your B2B customers/partners. With that, we wanted to create more reasonable pricing that works for all your identities, and you don’t have to worry about any unpredictable costs.

## New Findings With Pentest
As a team behind the platform handling sensitive data, we firmly believe that a transparent working process is essential for establishing trust in our project and cloud service. Accordingly, we highly prioritize publicizing the findings of our systemic security screenings. 

In November of 2022, we tested ZITADEL against the [OWASP Top Ten risks](https://owasp.org/www-project-top-ten/) and the configuration of our systems with the help of an external party.
With just one significant issue instantly resolved throughout the test, we were glad to find that the platform was assessed as confidential.
If you are interested in a more detailed overview of the results, feel free to [read the full report](/blog/2022-12-01-pentest-results-h2-2022-01.pdf).

As an additional effort to promote transparency, we have decided to reduce the number of sub-processors with access to customer data.
Our updated [Trust Center](/trust) displays a coherent list of every relevant provider and the specific data they have access to.

## Rising Blog Readership

Every week, our [ZITADEL Blog](/blog) is enriched with new stories, news, updates and opinions all about authentication and cybersecurity. While our articles have generally enjoyed an incredible rise in readership this year, three posts must be highlighted for drawing a particularly remarkable number of visitors.

Here are the TOP 3 articles from 2022 that you found most intriguing:

- [#3](/blog/smishing): Smishing - How to Recognize Dangerous Text Messages
- [#2](/blog/jwt-vs-opaque-tokens): JWT vs. Opaque Tokens
- [#1](/blog/magic-links): Magic Links - Are They Actually Outdated?

[![Thumbnail of our blog Are magic links outdated?](/blog/2022-06-22-magic-links-00.png)](/blog/magic-links)

## ZITADEL Beyond The Digital World
As a team working on a platform all about cybersecurity, it likely is not surprising that most of our work is done virtually. This year, however, we were granted some incredible opportunities that helped us expand our horizons and spread the word about ZITADEL beyond the digital world. 

These were the most notable events and conferences we visited in 2022:

- [Swiss Cybersecurity Days](https://swisscybersecuritydays.ch/) (SCSD): The largest cybersecurity convention in Switzerland, featuring world-renowned experts and politicians.
- [Gophercon UK](https://www.gophercon.co.uk/): A conference and workshop dedicated to Go programming information and training
- [Devoxx UK](https://www.devoxx.co.uk/): A conference for developers to learn, sharpen their skills and get hands-on experience with the latest tech
- [Websummit](https://websummit.com/): An event in Lisbon bringing together 70,000+ people to redefine the tech industry
- [Startup Nights](https://startup-nights.ch/): A convention in Winterthur with over 5’000 startups presenting their services and products

![Fabienne, Silvan, Max, and Florian in front of our ZITADEL booth at Websummit](/blog/2022-12-29-best-of-zitadel-2022-01.png)

## And Finally: A Thank You

While we are very proud of how far our authentication solution has come in 2022, it would be disingenuous for our team to take all the credit for this success. Our valued customers, supporters and anyone who takes time out of their day to interact with ZITADEL are all crucial factors in our growth as a startup. 

We are profoundly grateful for your trust in ZITADEL and look forward to seeing what more we can achieve together in the upcoming year and beyond.


This brief recap showcases the most significant ways ZITADEL has improved in the year 2022. We are profoundly grateful for your trust in ZITADEL!

The Best Of ZITADEL 2022


<div className="my-4">
  <YouTube videoId={"eEhQ24EEjuc"} containerClassName={"youtube-container"} />
</div>

## We did it! 🎉

We are thrilled to announce the successful closing of our seed funding round led by <a href="https://nexusvp.com/" target="_blank">Nexus Venture Partners</a>!

This is our first time raising money, and we are stoked to have a fantastic partner on board for the next part of our journey. The newly gained funding and expertise in open source product-led solutions will help us bring a much desired open source alternative to Auth0 to the market.

Big thanks to Nexus VP for the faith and trust in [our team](/team) and product.

We want to sincerely say thank you to all the **supporters**, **early adoperts**, and **valued customers** from the whole ZITADEL team!

![](/blog/2022-06-08-fundraising-nexus-01.jpg)

## Press Release

**ZITADEL secures $2.5M to enhance its developer-first, open-source identity management platform**

**St. Gallen, Switzerland - Jun 1, 2022 -** ZITADEL, innovator of a transformative identity management platform, announces $2.5M in seed funding led by Nexus Venture Partners. The funding will help ZITADEL provide developers with a much-needed open-source alternative for their identity management needs and evolve its solution, scale sales growth, and nurture the open-source community. The current market landscape consists of established but closed-source players, including Auth0, Okta, Firebase, AWS Cognito, and others.

ZITADEL’s founding vision was based on the creation of a streamlined, cloud-native identity management platform to speed time-to-market for software projects. Focused on the simplicity of integration, ready-to-use self-service features, a customizable and secure login with first-class support for passwordless authentication, and an API-first strategy, ZITADEL’s unique turnkey platform offers developers unprecedented flexibility.
Developers often spend countless hours creating, configuring, and operating complex authentication and authorization systems. ZITADEL, which is built mainly in the Go programming language, solves these problems with easy-to-use integrations in multiple languages and frameworks. This flexibility enables developers to utilize prebuilt features provided by ZITADEL to dramatically improve their productivity. In addition, ZITADEL’s capabilities address existing open-source projects which were not built for a cloud-native and serverless environment.

The ZITADEL team is working towards further enriching the solution’s enterprise-readiness. New capabilities include multi-tenancy, unlimited audit trails, improved ability to self-host, and support for serverless deployments, plus the potential to extend ZITADEL’s breadth with custom code created in WebAssembly. Combined with its cloud-native architecture, ZITADEL’s self-hosting capabilities allow privacy-focused customers to own and control their data by running a dedicated version. ZITADEL’s flexible model, with its span of smart efficiency enhancements, is already the go-to solution for numerous marquee enterprise customers.  
The generous free tier of ZITADEL’s cloud-hosted offering allows anybody to create a ZITADEL instance in under five minutes—without a credit card. In its ongoing commitment to deliver GDPR support to its customers, ZITADEL Cloud also provides the capability to define the country or geopolitical region in which to store their data.

“Amidst today's complex software projects, ZITADEL provides a turnkey solution that allows developers to get started easily with a secure login, user management, multi-factor authentication, social logins, authorization management, and great APIs. With ZITADEL, we provide an important component to improve the overall security of a project while reducing your time-to-market,” said ZITADEL Co-Founder and CEO, Florian Forster.
“We’re delighted to break new ground partnering with Florian and the ZITADEL team, our first-ever investment in a Swiss company. We believe the future of digital identities is passwordless. ZITADEL takes a developer-first, open-source approach to solving identity management. Its simple and easy-to-integrate building blocks help developers build secure authentication into their applications without requiring deep in-house expertise and resource commitment.” said Abhishek Sharma, Managing Director at Nexus Venture Partners. “ZITADEL is the latest addition to the Nexus family of over a dozen marquee commercial open-source companies,” added Sharma.

### About ZITADEL

ZITADEL is the modern open\* alternative for Auth0, Firebase Auth, and AWS Cognito, as well as Keycloak, built for the container and serverless era. It provides customers a wide range of out-of-the-box features, including secure login, self-service, OpenID Connect, OAuth2.x, SAML2, branding, Passwordless with FIDO2, OTP, U2F, and an unlimited audit trail to improve the life of developers and developers. With its legal incorporation in Switzerland, ZITADEL is in the unique position of providing its cloud services even to customers with the strictest GDPR requirements. For more information visit [https://zitadel.com](https://zitadel.com), follow <a href="https://twitter.com/zitadel" target="_blank">@zitadel on Twitter</a>, or star the repository <a href="https://github.com/zitadel/zitadel" target="_blank">on GitHub</a>.

### About Nexus Venture Partners

Nexus Venture Partners is an early-stage venture capital firm partnering with extraordinary entrepreneurs to help build product-first software companies. With $2 billion under management, Nexus operates as one team across the U.S. and India. The Nexus portfolio includes Apollo.io, Aryaka, Clover Health, Delhivery, Druva, FingerprintJS, Hasura, H2O.ai, Infra Market, Kaltura, MinIO, Observe.ai, Postman, Pubmatic, Quizizz, Rancher, Rapido, Sibros, TileDB, Turtlemint, Unacademy, WhitehatJr, and Zepto. For more information, visit <a href="https://nexusvp.com/" target="_blank">nexusvp.com</a> or follow <a href="https://twitter.com/NexusVP" target="_blank">@nexusvp</a> on Twitter.

Contact:  
Florian Forster  
florian@zitadel.com  
+41 43 215 27 44

## Press Coverage

- <a
    href="https://venturebeat.com/2022/06/07/zitadel-targets-developers-with-open-source-identity-management-platform/"
    target="_blank"
  >
    VentureBeat - June 7, 2022: Zitadel targets developers with open-source
    identity management platform
  </a>
- <a
    href="https://www.startupticker.ch/en/news/american-vc-invests-2-5m-in-swiss-cybersecurity-startup"
    target="_blank"
  >
    startupticker.ch - June 9, 2022: American VC invests $2.5M in Swiss
    cybersecurity startup
  </a>
- <a
    href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/zitadel-secures-2-5m-enhance-094800684.html"
    target="_blank"
  >
    yahoo!finance - June 10, 2022: ZITADEL Secures $2.5M to Enhance its
    Developer-First, Open-Source Identity Management Platform
  </a>


ZITADEL, innovator of a transformative identity management platform, announces $2.5M in seed funding led by Nexus Venture Partners. The funding will help ZITADEL provide developers with a much-needed open-source alternative for their identity management needs and evolve its solution, scale sales growth, and nurture the open-source community.

ZITADEL secures $2.5M to enhance its developer-first, open-source identity management platform


## Description

The ZITADEL team gives an overview of what happend over the last months and what our roadmap for 2022. This is a highlight video from a [livestream](https://youtu.be/IyJrAf9JOJc) on February 24, 2022.

We will talk about Actions, Personal Access Tokens, E2E Testing, SAML2.0, and of course our rehaul of our cloud offering "V2" - and many more topics.

<br />
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    videoId={"3Cu_on1GzGY"}
    containerClassName={"youtube-container"}
    stopsTitle="Topics covered"
    stopList={[
      { name: "General Updates", time: "0:15" },
      { name: "Personal Access Tokens (and Demo)", time: "1:15" },
      { name: "ZITADEL Actions (and Demo)", time: "3:24" },
      { name: "Query Side / Event sourcing", time: "4:26" },
      { name: "Issues: User Register Flow", time: "5:20" },
      { name: "Issues: Global Organization", time: "7:10" },
      { name: "End-to-End testing", time: "8:24" },
      { name: "Roadmap: V2 of ZITADEL", time: "9:40" },
      { name: "Roadmap: Developing ZITADEL / Community", time: "13:49" },
      { name: "Roadmap: UI overhaul of Console", time: "14:38" },
      { name: "Roadmap: SAML2.0", time: "16:39" },
      { name: "Roadmap: Reporting", time: "17:41" },
      { name: "Roadmap: Login providers", time: "18:09" },
    ]}
  ></YouTubeExtended>
</div>

## References

- Watch the [full recording](https://youtu.be/IyJrAf9JOJc) of the livestream
- Explore our [roadmap](https://zitadel.com/roadmap)
- More about our plans for 2022 in our Blog ["6 New ways ZITADEL IAM will improve in the year 2022"](/blog/six-ways-zitadel-will-improve-2022)
- Read about ["New Personal Access Tokens (PAT): A game changer for Service Users"](/blog/new-personal-access-token)
- Our blog about ["SAML vs OIDC: Which Protocol is Best for Your Organization?"](/blog/saml-vs-oidc)
- Find a link to the new [Rust SDK](https://zitadel.com/docs/sdk-examples/introduction#libraries)
- Track the progress of the initial release of [ZITADEL CLI](https://github.com/zitadel/zitadel/issues/3182)


Meet the team behind ZITADEL. We share what we have done over the last months and our plans for 2022. Highlights from our livestream on Feb 24, 2022.

Into the zitadel/zitadel | No 3.


## Description

We were busy since our last Into the CAOS and want to share some updates around ZITADEL and what is planned in the near future.

We will also talk about new features such as Metadata, Actions, new policies as well as what did not go so well.

<br />
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  <YouTubeExtended
    videoId={"RZJkNX7s7Zk"}
    containerClassName={"youtube-container"}
    stopsTitle="Topics covered"
    stopList={[
      { name: "Highlights from the past weeks", time: "1:50" },
      { name: "Metadata", time: "5:20" },
      { name: "Handling External Identity Providers", time: "7:06" },
      { name: "Actions", time: "9:00" },
      { name: "Lockout policy", time: "17:00" },
      { name: "Query Side", time: "21:06" },
      { name: "Question to Lockout policy", time: "25:21" },
      { name: "Native Backup", time: "28:19" },
      { name: "OpenAPI/Swagger", time: "30:10" },
      { name: "Issues and learnings", time: "33:29" },
      { name: "New languages", time: "39:38" },
      {
        name: "How to use ZITADEL for Product vs. Organizations",
        time: "42:36",
      },
      { name: "Roadmap", time: "54:31" },
      { name: "Penetration test", time: "58:40" },
    ]}
  ></YouTubeExtended>
</div>

## References

- [Swisscom Cybersecurity Startup Challenge](https://www.swisscom.ch/en/magazine/start-up/startup-challenge-security/)
- [DINAcon Awards](https://awards.dinacon.ch/gewinner2021/)
- [API Documentation](https://zitadel.com/docs/apis/introduction/)
- [Internationalization Documentation](https://zitadel.com/docs/guides/manage/customize/texts#internationalization)
- [Smartive - Built with ZITADEL](https://zitadel.com/blog/success-story-smartive-bin)
- [Pentest results](https://zitadel.com/blog/pentest-results-h1-2021)

## Discuss features

- [Discussion: Metadata on Orgs](https://github.com/zitadel/zitadel/discussions/2454)
- [Discussion: Project settings](https://github.com/zitadel/zitadel/discussions/2263)


We were busy since our last Into the CAOS and want to share some updates around ZITADEL and what is planned in the near future.

Into the CAOS | No 2.


## Description

The team behind ZITADEL shares what we developed over the summer, what issues we encountered on the way, and what is planned in the near feature.

<br />
<div className="my-4">
  <YouTubeExtended
    videoId={"b95LK2oiIiw"}
    containerClassName={"youtube-container"}
    stopsTitle="Topics covered"
    stopList={[
      { name: "Team", time: "5:25" },
      { name: "Privatelabeling", time: "8:00" },
      { name: "Passwordless", time: "12:03" },
      { name: "Query Optimization", time: "17:00" },
      { name: "Postmap rings 😂", time: "20:50" },
      { name: "OIDC RP Certification", time: "21:33" },
      { name: "Sentry", time: "26:10" },
      { name: "New Nextjs template / example", time: "32:05" },
      { name: "Quick Demo Privatelabeling in Console", time: "33:12" },
      { name: "Issues and how we solved them", time: "37:05" },
      {
        name: "Upcoming: Extending external identity providers",
        time: "56:05",
      },
      { name: "Next up: What’s coming to ZITADEL", time: "1:01:28" },
    ]}
  ></YouTubeExtended>
</div>

## References

- [Software Architecture / Query Models / CQRS](https://zitadel.com/docs/concepts/architecture/software)
- [Certification OIDC RP Library in Go](https://github.com/zitadel/oidc)
- [Examples / Templates](https://zitadel.com/docs/sdk-examples/introduction)


The team behind ZITADEL shares what we developed over the summer, what issues we encountered on the way, and what is planned in the near feature.

All posts/ #about_us