head to head · open source
Authentik vs oauth2-client
Authentik has 26,261 GitHub stars, 2,118 forks, 1,074 open issues and last shipped yesterday. oauth2-client has 3,819 stars, 770 forks, 64 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Authentik leads on adoption by 588% (26,261 vs 3,819 stars). Authentik is written in Python under a custom or non-standard licence; oauth2-client is written in PHP under MIT. Authentik has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, oauth2-client 20%. Authentik was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 3 topic tags (authentication, authorization, oauth2), 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 | oauth2-client | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 26K | ★ 3.8K |
| License | Custom / other | MIT |
| Written in | Python | PHP |
| Last push | 2026-11-07 | 2026-11-06 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.1K | ⑂ 770 |
| 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 oauth2-client if
- You want the oauth2-client feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches PHP
- You evaluated both and oauth2-client 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 oauth2-client
OAuth 2.0 Client This package provides a base for integrating with OAuth 2.0 service providers. The OAuth 2.0 login flow, seen commonly around the web in the form of "Connect with Facebook/Google/etc." buttons, is a common integration added to web applications, but it can be tricky and tedious to do right. To help, we've created the league/oauth2 client package, which provides a base for integrating with various OAuth 2.0 providers, without overburdening your application with the concerns of RFC 6749. This OAuth 2.0 client library will work with any OAuth 2.0 provider that conforms to the OAuth 2.0 Authorization…
read the full oauth2-client overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Authentik or oauth2-client more popular?
Authentik has 26,261 GitHub stars and oauth2-client has 3,819. Authentik has the larger community by that measure.
Are Authentik and oauth2-client free?
Both are open source. Authentik has no licence declared in this registry, and oauth2-client is licensed under MIT. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Authentik and oauth2-client?
Authentik is written in Python and oauth2-client in PHP. 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 oauth2-client?
Choose Authentik if you want the larger community (26,261 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose oauth2-client if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.