head to head · open source
Authentik vs melody-auth
Authentik has 26,209 GitHub stars, 2,099 forks, 1,074 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. melody-auth has 651 stars, 70 forks, 3 open issues and last shipped 8 days ago. Authentik leads on adoption by 3,926% (26,209 vs 651 stars). Authentik is written in Python under a custom or non-standard licence; melody-auth is written in TypeScript under MIT. Authentik has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, melody-auth 11%. Authentik was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (oauth2, 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
| Authentik | melody-auth | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 26K | ★ 651 |
| License | Custom / other | MIT |
| Written in | Python | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-10-27 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.1K | ⑂ 70 |
| 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 melody-auth if
- You want the melody-auth feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and melody-auth fits your workflow better
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 →
About melody-auth
Melody Auth Melody Auth is a user friendly, robust solution for implementing and hosting your own OAuth and authentication system. Deploy to Cloudflare using Workers, D1, and KV in just minutes — minimizing infrastructure and DevOps overhead. Self Host with Node.js, Redis, and PostgreSQL — giving you full control over your data and infrastructure. Feature Overview Disclaimer All French translations provided in this project have been generated by AI. Please review them carefully for accuracy before use. What's included? OAuth & Authentication Server [[Setup]]( [[Config]]( Server to Server REST API for backend…
read the full melody-auth overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Authentik or melody-auth more popular?
Authentik has 26,209 GitHub stars and melody-auth has 651. Authentik has the larger community by that measure.
Are Authentik and melody-auth free?
Both are open source. Authentik has no licence declared in this registry, and melody-auth is licensed under MIT. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Authentik and melody-auth?
Authentik is written in Python and melody-auth in TypeScript. 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 melody-auth?
Choose Authentik if you want the larger community (26,209 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose melody-auth if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.