authentik

Authentik addresses the complex challenge of managing identity and access through a single platform that supports multiple protocols including SAML, OAuth2/OIDC, LDAP, and RADIUS. Unlike commercial IdPs such as Okta or Auth0, it offers an open-source alternative designed for self-hosting from small labs to large production clusters, with deployment options ranging from Docker Compose for testing to Kubernetes Helm charts for scale. Backend engineers and DevOps teams benefit most from its flexibility in integrating with existing infrastructure and its support for modern authentication standards. With over 26,000 stars and recent commits as of November 2026, it shows active maintenance but lacks notable growth momentum compared to dominant cloud IdPs. It is a poor choice if your team prefers a fully managed cloud identity provider with extensive third-party integrations and vendor support, where solutions like Entra ID or Ping Identity would be better suited.

Choose authentik when you need a self-hosted, protocol-rich identity provider that can replace commercial IdPs in environments where control and customization are priorities. For organisations seeking a managed service or requiring extensive ecosystem integrations, consider Okta or Auth0 instead due to their broader enterprise support and market traction.

Authentik typically fits into teams building internal platforms that require centralized single sign-on and identity management, such as internal developer portals, Kubernetes clusters with RBAC, or custom web applications needing OAuth2 and SAML support. It is also used in scenarios where teams want to unify authentication across heterogeneous environments including LDAP and RADIUS-based legacy systems.

Latest commit: 2026-11-14. Over the past 16 days, this repository gained 170 stars (+0.6% growth). Activity data is based on daily RepoPi snapshots of the GitHub repository.