head to head · open source
Authentik vs Permify
Authentik has 25,600 GitHub stars, 2,019 forks, 1,074 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Permify has 5,952 stars, 323 forks, 75 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Authentik leads on adoption by 330% (25,600 vs 5,952 stars). Authentik is written in Python under a custom or non-standard licence; Permify is written in Go under AGPL-3.0. Authentik has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, Permify 5%. Authentik was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (authorization, kubernetes), 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 | Permify | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 26K | ★ 6.0K |
| License | Custom / other | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Python | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.0K | ⑂ 323 |
| 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 Permify if
- You want the Permify feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and Permify 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 Permify
Permify is an open source authorization service for building and managing fine grained, scalable, and extensible access controls for applications and services. It is inspired by Google's consistent, global authorization system, Zanzibar, and it lives in the Go ecosystem, distributed under the AGPL 3.0 license. The project is categorized under Security & Privacy, specifically Identity & Access Management, and it has been acquired by FusionAuth.
read the full Permify overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Authentik or Permify more popular?
Authentik has 25,600 GitHub stars and Permify has 5,952. Authentik has the larger community by that measure.
Are Authentik and Permify free?
Both are open source. Authentik has no licence declared in this registry, and Permify is licensed under AGPL-3.0. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Authentik and Permify?
Authentik is written in Python and Permify 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 Permify?
Choose Authentik if you want the larger community (25,600 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose Permify if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.