head to head · open source
Authentik vs gokey
Authentik has 25,647 GitHub stars, 2,029 forks, 1,074 open issues and last shipped yesterday. gokey has 2,435 stars, 109 forks, 8 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. Authentik leads on adoption by 953% (25,647 vs 2,435 stars). Authentik is written in Python under a custom or non-standard licence; gokey is written in Go under BSD-3-Clause. Authentik has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, gokey 4%. Authentik was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| Authentik | gokey | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 26K | ★ 2.4K |
| License | Custom / other | BSD-3-Clause |
| Written in | Python | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-19 | 2026-07-10 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.0K | ⑂ 109 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Authentik if
- You weight community size — 26K stars and counting
- You want the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick gokey if
- You want the gokey feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the BSD-3-Clause license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and gokey fits your workflow better
About Authentik
Authentik is an open source Identity Provider (IdP) built for modern single sign on (SSO) workflows. It operates in the identity and access management (IAM) ecosystem, offering a self hosted alternative to commercial solutions like Auth0, Okta, and Entra ID. The project is written in Python and distributed under a mixed MIT/CC BY SA/enterprise license model, with a core open source offering and an enterprise tier for advanced features and support.
read the full Authentik overview →
About gokey
gokey is a vaultless password and key generator written in Go that derives passwords and cryptographic private keys on demand from a master password or a seed file instead of storing them in a vault, aimed at developers and system administrators who want deterministic credentials available anywhere without managing, backing up, or syncing a password store.
read the full gokey overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Authentik or gokey more popular?
Authentik has 25,647 GitHub stars and gokey has 2,435. Authentik has the larger community by that measure.
Are Authentik and gokey free?
Both are open source. Authentik has no licence declared in this registry, and gokey is licensed under BSD-3-Clause. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Authentik and gokey?
Authentik is written in Python and gokey in Go. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Authentik or gokey?
Choose Authentik if you want the larger community (25,647 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose gokey if its feature set, stack or BSD-3-Clause licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.