What Okta is
Okta is an Identity Provider (IdP). Its job is to be the single source of truth for who your users are — pulling them from HR systems, federating them to SaaS via SAML/OIDC, and handling lifecycle events (provisioning, deprovisioning, MFA prompts). It has an opinion about *how* users authenticate (password + push MFA typical) but the primary value is the directory + federation.
What passkeys are
Passkeys are the consumer-facing name for FIDO2/WebAuthn credentials. Cryptographically, a passkey is a public/private keypair per relying party, with the private key held in a secure enclave (a phone's Secure Element, a hardware key, a laptop TPM). The site verifies a signature; nothing is stored server-side that a thief could exploit.
Why comparing them is a category error
Passkeys are the credential your users present. Okta is the system that manages who is allowed to present a credential. You do not choose between them — you choose the credential *in* your identity system. A modern Okta deployment can use passkeys as the primary factor; an IdP-less passkey deployment is possible for direct-relying-party integrations but leaves you without a directory.
Where they conflict in practice
In practice, teams evaluating 'passwordless with Okta' hit two friction points: (1) not every application in the estate supports WebAuthn yet, so a password fallback remains; (2) Okta's session tokens after passkey login are still bearer credentials, phishable in some flows. Passkeys solve the credential side; they do not solve the whole authentication chain.
Where H33 fits
H33 is the identity that owns passkeys and continues signing after login. Every session action is signed — not just the initial handshake. Passkeys are one credential class H33 manages; passwords, biometric attestation, and delegated authority chains are others. Deploy as a passwordless enhancement on top of Okta, or as the identity layer for direct-relying-party apps.