head to head · open source
Authentik vs product-is
Authentik has 25,846 GitHub stars, 2,059 forks, 1,074 open issues and last shipped today. product-is has 882 stars, 1,033 forks, 1,632 open issues and last shipped today. Authentik leads on adoption by 2,830% (25,846 vs 882 stars). Authentik is written in Python under a custom or non-standard licence; product-is is written in Java under Apache-2.0. Authentik has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, product-is 117%. Authentik was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 4 topic tags (authentication, authorization, 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 | product-is | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 26K | ★ 882 |
| License | Custom / other | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | Java |
| Last push | 2026-10-05 | 2026-10-05 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.1K | ⑂ 1.0K |
| 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 product-is if
- You want the product-is feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You evaluated both and product-is 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 product-is
WSO2 Identity Server is an open source identity and access management platform for Java based on premises and cloud deployments, aimed at teams that need to secure applications, APIs, workforce, consumer, and business customer logins under standards such as OAuth 2.0, OIDC, and SAML 2.0.
read the full product-is overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Authentik or product-is more popular?
Authentik has 25,846 GitHub stars and product-is has 882. Authentik has the larger community by that measure.
Are Authentik and product-is free?
Both are open source. Authentik has no licence declared in this registry, and product-is is licensed under Apache-2.0. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Authentik and product-is?
Authentik is written in Python and product-is in Java. 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 product-is?
Choose Authentik if you want the larger community (25,846 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose product-is if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.