head to head · open source
Authentik vs privacyidea
Authentik has 25,633 GitHub stars, 2,025 forks, 1,074 open issues and last shipped yesterday. privacyidea has 1,774 stars, 361 forks, 193 open issues and last shipped today. Authentik leads on adoption by 1,345% (25,633 vs 1,774 stars). Authentik is written in Python under a custom or non-standard licence; privacyidea is written in Python under AGPL-3.0. Authentik has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, privacyidea 20%. privacyidea was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (authentication), 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 | privacyidea | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 26K | ★ 1.8K |
| License | Custom / other | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Python | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-19 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.0K | ⑂ 361 |
| 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 privacyidea if
- You want the privacyidea feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and privacyidea 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 privacyidea
privacyIDEA is an open source, self hosted multi factor authentication platform, written in Python and licensed under AGPL 3.0, for organisations that need to add a second factor to many different applications at once while keeping sensitive user data inside their own infrastructure.
read the full privacyidea overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Authentik or privacyidea more popular?
Authentik has 25,633 GitHub stars and privacyidea has 1,774. Authentik has the larger community by that measure.
Are Authentik and privacyidea free?
Both are open source. Authentik has no licence declared in this registry, and privacyidea is licensed under AGPL-3.0. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Authentik and privacyidea?
Authentik is written in Python and privacyidea 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, Authentik or privacyidea?
Choose Authentik if you want the larger community (25,633 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose privacyidea if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.