head to head · open source
Authentik vs Ory
Authentik has 26,209 GitHub stars, 2,099 forks, 1,074 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Ory has 13,950 stars, 1,212 forks, 224 open issues and last shipped 3 months ago. Authentik leads on adoption by 88% (26,209 vs 13,950 stars). Authentik is written in Python under a custom or non-standard licence; Ory is written in Go under Apache-2.0. Authentik has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, Ory 9%. 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 | Ory | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 26K | ★ 14K |
| License | Custom / other | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | Go |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-07-29 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.1K | ⑂ 1.2K |
| 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 Ory if
- You want the Ory feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and Ory 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 Ory
Chat · Discussions · Newsletter · Docs · Try Ory Network · Jobs Ory Kratos is an API first identity and user management system for cloud native applications. It centralizes login, registration, recovery, verification, and profile management flows so your services consume them instead of reimplementing them. Table of contents What is Ory Kratos? Why Ory Kratos Migrating from Auth0, Okta, and similar providers Deployment options Use Ory Kratos on the Ory Network Self host Ory Kratos Quickstart Who is using it? What is Ory Kratos? Ory Kratos is an API first identity and user management system that follows cloud…
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Frequently asked questions
Is Authentik or Ory more popular?
Authentik has 26,209 GitHub stars and Ory has 13,950. Authentik has the larger community by that measure.
Are Authentik and Ory free?
Both are open source. Authentik has no licence declared in this registry, and Ory is licensed under Apache-2.0. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Authentik and Ory?
Authentik is written in Python and Ory 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 Ory?
Choose Authentik if you want the larger community (26,209 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose Ory if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.