WeRoad is a European adventure travel company founded in 2017 that specializes in organizing group travel experiences for adventurous travelers. Based in Europe with operations across multiple countries including the UK, WeRoad has grown rapidly since its founding, expanding from a small startup to an established company with approximately 200 employees, including a technical team of around 50 engineers.
WeRoad creates unique travel experiences that connect like-minded explorers, organizing adventures in various destinations across the globe. Their focus on community-building and authentic experiences has helped them carve out a distinct niche in the competitive travel industry.
Summary - WeRoad Chooses FusionAuth
Key Takeaways
- Travel Industry Cost Control: FusionAuth enables travel companies like WeRoad to scale authentication cost-effectively, avoiding the prohibitive per-user pricing that often accompanies rapid customer growth
- European Data Sovereignty: Self-hosting with FusionAuth ensures travel companies maintain complete control over customer data, simplifying GDPR compliance and meeting European regulatory requirements
- Rapid Multi-Platform Deployment: FusionAuth’s Kubernetes-native architecture allows travel companies to quickly deploy authentication across web, mobile, and backend services using existing infrastructure
- Custom Brand Experience: Travel brands can create fully customized authentication experiences that match their unique design language, from animated themes to branded magic link flows
- Zero-Maintenance Reliability: FusionAuth’s single-tenant architecture delivers enterprise-grade stability that scales with growing travel companies without requiring dedicated authentication team support
- Comprehensive Travel Use Cases: FusionAuth handles the full spectrum of travel authentication needs, from customer-facing social login to machine-to-machine booking system integrations
Definitions
- Customer Identity and Access Management (CIAM): A specialized identity solution designed for customer-facing applications, where FusionAuth’s self-hosting capabilities give travel companies complete control over customer authentication data and compliance requirements
- Single Sign-On (SSO): The ability for users to authenticate once and access multiple applications seamlessly, particularly valuable for travel companies managing booking platforms, customer portals, and mobile apps with FusionAuth’s unified authentication
- Machine-to-Machine (M2M) Authentication: Secure token-based authentication between backend services, enabling travel companies to protect APIs for inventory management, booking systems, and partner integrations using FusionAuth’s OAuth2 implementation
- Self-Hosting Architecture: The deployment model where organizations run authentication infrastructure on their own servers, giving travel companies like WeRoad complete data sovereignty and cost predictability that FusionAuth uniquely provides among enterprise solutions
- Passwordless Authentication: Modern authentication methods using magic links, SMS codes, or push notifications instead of passwords, allowing travel companies to reduce friction in booking flows while FusionAuth maintains security standards
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: How does FusionAuth compare to Auth0 for user authentication in travel applications?
A: FusionAuth offers significant advantages for travel companies, particularly around cost and data control. While Auth0’s per-user pricing can become prohibitive as customer bases grow, FusionAuth’s licensing model allows unlimited users. Additionally, FusionAuth’s self-hosting capabilities give travel companies complete control over customer data for GDPR compliance, unlike Auth0’s multi-tenant cloud model. WeRoad specifically migrated from Auth0 to FusionAuth to achieve substantial cost savings and enhanced data sovereignty.
Q: Can FusionAuth be deployed using Docker or Kubernetes for travel platform infrastructure?
A: Yes, FusionAuth is designed for containerized deployments and works seamlessly with Kubernetes. Travel companies like WeRoad have successfully deployed FusionAuth using Kubernetes and Helm charts, leveraging existing PostgreSQL databases and cluster infrastructure. This approach provides the scalability and reliability needed for seasonal travel booking spikes while maintaining consistent authentication performance across web and mobile applications.
Q: How can I minimize authentication latency for global users in travel booking systems?
A: FusionAuth’s self-hosting architecture allows travel companies to deploy authentication servers closer to their users, reducing latency compared to centralized cloud solutions. By hosting FusionAuth in multiple regions or using edge deployments, travel companies can ensure fast authentication for users booking from anywhere in the world. The single-tenant architecture also eliminates the “noisy neighbor” problems common in shared authentication services.
Q: How do I implement single sign-on (SSO) with my travel SaaS product?
A: FusionAuth provides comprehensive SSO capabilities through industry-standard protocols like SAML, OAuth2, and OpenID Connect. For travel platforms, this means users can authenticate once to access booking systems, customer portals, mobile apps, and partner services seamlessly. FusionAuth’s customizable themes ensure the authentication experience matches your travel brand, while machine-to-machine authentication secures backend integrations with inventory and payment systems.
Q: Does FusionAuth support RBAC (role-based access control) for travel platform management?
A: FusionAuth includes sophisticated RBAC capabilities perfect for travel companies managing complex organizational structures. You can define roles for different user types (customers, travel coordinators, guides, administrators) and assign granular permissions. This enables travel companies to control access to booking systems, customer data, financial reports, and operational tools while maintaining security compliance across different user categories and geographic regions.
WeRoad’s Travel Platform Authentication Challenge
As WeRoad rapidly expanded, their authentication needs grew increasingly complex. The DevOps team, led by Roberto Dedoro, faced several authentication challenges:
- Authentication for Multiple Applications: They needed a single sign-on solution that would work across multiple applications
- Social Login Support: The ability for users to authenticate using Google and potentially other social providers
- Mobile App Authentication: Supporting authentication for their newly launched Android and iOS applications
- Machine-to-Machine Authentication: Secure tokens for backend-to-backend services via M2M
- Passwordless Options: Support for magic links and other passwordless authentication methods
- Data Sovereignty: As a European company subject to GDPR, maintaining control over user data was essential
Additionally, WeRoad was facing significant cost increases with their previous authentication provider, Auth0, which was becoming unsustainable as they scaled.
Why FusionAuth Won Over Auth0 and Other Solutions for Travel Companies
After evaluating several authentication solutions including Auth0, Amazon Cognito, SuperTokens, and Keycloak, WeRoad selected FusionAuth for several key reasons:
1. Cost-Effective Scaling
The primary driver for migration was Auth0’s escalating costs:
“The main issue was pricing. We were growing, but at the time we were a quite small company, and so the cost of Auth0 was a big factor that we took into consideration.”
2. Self-Hosting Capability
Unlike Auth0, FusionAuth offered true self-hosting, giving WeRoad crucial data control:
“We wanted to have a little bit more control of the data. Now we’re able to look into the databases, so we’re sure that we have all the data that we need. And there are no issues if we have to export data.”
3. Simplified Deployment
WeRoad found FusionAuth’s deployment model aligned perfectly with their existing infrastructure:
“We host FusionAuth on Kubernetes, and we already had the requirements for FusionAuth. We already had the PostgreSQL database and the Kubernetes cluster, so it was really fairly easy to deploy.”
4. Comprehensive Feature Set
FusionAuth provided all the authentication capabilities WeRoad needed, including:
- Single sign-on across multiple applications
- Social login with Google
- Magic links and passwordless login options
- Machine-to-machine token support
5. Customization Options
FusionAuth’s theming capabilities allowed WeRoad to create a fully branded login experience:
“We like the customization. Our designers created a custom theme with animated clouds in the background. It’s fully customizable because we were able to make a nice login form.”
Measurable Results: Cost Savings and Operational Benefits
Since implementing FusionAuth in 2021, WeRoad has experienced several benefits:
1. Substantial Cost Savings
By switching from Auth0 to FusionAuth’s self-hosted solution, WeRoad achieved significant cost reductions, since FusionAuth allows for far more monthly active users (MAUs) than a comparably-priced Auth0 plan.
2. Enhanced Data Control
Self-hosting has given WeRoad complete control over their authentication data, making GDPR compliance more straightforward and providing better visibility into user authentication patterns.
3. Easy Maintenance
Despite nearly four years of use, WeRoad’s implementation has been so stable that they’ve never needed to contact technical support:
“We’ve never had any need for tech support.”
4. Scalable Authentication
As WeRoad has grown from a small startup to a company with approximately 200 employees, and tens of thousands of customers, FusionAuth has scaled with them without any issues.
5. Seamless Integration
The availability of official SDKs and Terraform providers has made it easy for WeRoad to integrate FusionAuth into their development workflows and infrastructure-as-code practices.
Key Benefits
- Cost-Effective: Significant savings compared to Auth0’s pricing structure
- Data Control: Full control over authentication data for GDPR compliance
- Easy Deployment: Simple implementation using Kubernetes and Helm charts
- Comprehensive Features: All needed authentication capabilities in one platform
- Custom Branding: Fully customizable interface to match WeRoad’s design language
- Low Maintenance: Stable and reliable with no need for technical support
How can FusionAuth help you reach your goals? Drop us a line and let’s talk.
