# Do I need an account?

Source: https://docs.gryt.chat/docs/use/accounts

No. Here is what you get if you make one anyway, and what it costs you if you don't.

**No.** Download Gryt, open it, and you can host a server and talk to people on
your network in under a minute. Nobody signs up for anything.

That isn't a trial or a limited mode. A guest identity is a real identity: it
signs the same challenge, gets the same roles, and can own a server. The
difference is who vouches for it.

## The two ways to be somebody

When you join a server, your client signs a one-time challenge with a private
key that never leaves your device. The server checks the signature against a
certificate saying which key belongs to whom. What differs is who signed that
certificate.

A **guest** identity signs its own. The key vouches for itself, there's no
sign-up, no email address, and nobody — including us — can connect it to a
person. Your client makes a separate key for each server, so two servers can't
work out they're talking to the same person.

An **account** identity is signed by `id.gryt.chat` after Keycloak has
authenticated you. The same `sub` appears on every Gryt server, which is what
makes you recognisably the same person across all of them.

## Which one you want

| | Guest | Account |
|---|---|---|
| Sign-up | none | email and password |
| Same person on other servers | no, deliberately | yes |
| New device | a new identity, unless you [authorise the device](https://docs.gryt.chat/docs/host/identity#authorising-a-device-instead-of-moving-your-identity-to-it) | sign in |
| Lost your device | the identity is gone with it | sign in again |
| Servers that will have you | those accepting `local` | all of them |
| A ban on you holds | until you make a new key | until you make a new account |
| Anyone can tell it's you | only that server, only while you keep the key | yes, by design |

**Pick guest** for a LAN party, a game night, one weekend's server, or anything
you would rather not attach your name to. It's the lower-commitment option in
every sense, including the one where you lose everything if the laptop dies.

**Pick an account** if you're on servers you intend to stay on, if you use more
than one device, or if you want people to recognise you when you turn up
somewhere new. It's also what a server admin needs if bans are supposed to
mean something.

You aren't choosing once. Making an account later
[keeps the membership you already have](https://docs.gryt.chat/docs/host/identity) — your roles and
history come with you rather than starting again.

<Callout type="info">
  A server tells you which it accepts before you try. The Add Server dialog
  shows **No account needed** or **Gryt account required** as soon as it has
  looked the server up, so you never find out by being turned away.
</Callout>

## For server admins

The tier your server accepts is one setting, and the trade is bans. A guest can
generate a new keypair in about two seconds, so a ban on a guest identity holds
until they bother to. Servers accepting guests lean on the door instead —
invites, approval, LAN-only — rather than on bans.

The full picture, including how to set it, is in
[Server → Identity](https://docs.gryt.chat/docs/host/identity).