head to head · open source
Keycloak vs Authentik
Keycloak has 37,657 GitHub stars, 9,129 forks, 3,292 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Authentik has 26,209 stars, 2,099 forks, 1,074 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Keycloak leads on adoption by 44% (37,657 vs 26,209 stars). Keycloak is written in Java under Apache-2.0; Authentik is written in Python under a custom or non-standard licence. Keycloak has attracted 24% as many forks as stars, Authentik 8%. Authentik was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (oidc), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
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
| Keycloak | Authentik | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 38K | ★ 26K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Custom / other |
| Written in | Java | Python |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 9.1K | ⑂ 2.1K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Keycloak if
- You weight community size — 38K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Authentik if
- You want the Authentik feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and Authentik fits your workflow better
About Keycloak
Open Source Identity and Access Management Add authentication to applications and secure services with minimum effort. No need to deal with storing users or authenticating users. Keycloak provides user federation, strong authentication, user management, fine grained authorization, and more. Help and Documentation Documentation User Mailing List Mailing list for help and general questions about Keycloak Join keycloak for general questions, or keycloak dev on Slack for design and development discussions, by creating an account at Reporting Security Vulnerabilities If you have found a security vulnerability, please…
read the full Keycloak overview →
About Authentik
What is authentik? authentik is an open source Identity Provider (IdP) for modern SSO. It supports SAML, OAuth2/OIDC, LDAP, RADIUS, and more, designed for self hosting from small labs to large production clusters. Our enterprise offering is available for organizations to securely replace existing IdPs such as Okta, Auth0, Entra ID, and Ping Identity for robust, large scale identity management. Installation Docker Compose: recommended for small/test setups. See the documentation. Kubernetes (Helm Chart): recommended for larger setups. See the documentation and the Helm chart repository. AWS CloudFormation: deploy…
read the full Authentik overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Keycloak or Authentik more popular?
Keycloak has 37,657 GitHub stars and Authentik has 26,209. Keycloak has the larger community by that measure.
Are Keycloak and Authentik free?
Both are open source. Keycloak is licensed under Apache-2.0, and Authentik has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Keycloak and Authentik?
Keycloak is written in Java and Authentik in Python. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Keycloak or Authentik?
Choose Keycloak if you want the larger community (37,657 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose Authentik if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.