The State of Authorization - 2025

In 2025, the landscape of authorization in software development is dominated by Role-Based Access Control (RBAC), with 86.6% of developers using this model despite its limitations in complex environments, as revealed by a survey of over 200 developers. While most teams have implemented custom in-house solutions due to existing tools not fitting seamlessly into their workflows, there's growing interest in more flexible models like Attribute-Based Access Control (ABAC) and Relationship-Based Access Control (ReBAC), which offer more granularity and adaptability. Developers are increasingly recognizing the need for fine-grained authorization, with over half planning to implement it within the next year, and there's a rising trend towards using SaaS authorization tools to externalize and simplify access control systems. Despite the challenges with policy languages and real-time decision-making, the need for more advanced, composable, and developer-friendly authorization tools is evident, reflecting a shift in treating authorization as a critical product feature rather than just an infrastructure concern.

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