---
title: "Zuplo Case Study"
description: "How API management platform Zuplo runs OpenFGA across multiple data centers with PostgreSQL global replication for edge authorization."
canonical: "https://openfga.dev/docs/adopters/zuplo"
content_type: "documentation"
last_updated: "2026-09-03T05:50:49.000Z"
---

# Zuplo: Edge authorization across multiple data centers

[Zuplo](https://zuplo.com) is a developer-first API management platform that helps teams build, deploy, and scale APIs globally. Zuplo uses OpenFGA to enforce fine-grained authorization at the edge across every region the platform runs in.

## At a glance

|                         |                                                |
| ----------------------- | ---------------------------------------------- |
| **Industry**            | API management                                 |
| **In production since** | 2024                                           |
| **Scale**               | Several hundred RPS, with spikes above 500 RPS |
| **Version**             | v1.8.x                                         |
| **Storage**             | PostgreSQL with global replication             |
| **Deployment**          | Multi-region edge                              |

## Why OpenFGA

As Zuplo's customer base shifted toward larger enterprises, simple project-membership rules were no longer enough. The team evaluated:

- Axiomatics (AuthZEN-based)
- Aserto (AuthZEN-based)
- Auth0 FGA
- Building a custom solution in-house

They chose OpenFGA because it is **open source and self-hostable**, and because **PostgreSQL as a backend** let Zuplo replicate authorization data globally and run checks at the edge — exactly the topology API management requires.

## Architecture

- **One authorization model** governs the entire product, single-tenant.
- The same model handles **user access and API key access** to product features.
- OpenFGA is deployed in production across multiple data centers worldwide.
- Performance work for major upgrades uses k6-based end-to-end load tests.

## Outcomes

- Updating and versioning the authorization model independently of the application code accelerated development cycles.
- Roles and permissions can be tested and refined without code changes.
- Authorization is centralized across teams while keeping concerns separate.
- Caching introduced upstream replaced a homegrown cache layer Zuplo had built before OpenFGA shipped its own.

## Outlook

Zuplo continues to file feature requests upstream and has expressed interest in publicly sharing more details about how it implements authorization at the edge.

## Source

This case study is based on the public CNCF TOC adopter interview with Nate Totten, Co-founder & CTO of Zuplo, available in the [`cncf/toc` repository](https://github.com/cncf/toc/tree/main/projects/openfga).