head to head · open source
Authentik vs rauthy
Authentik has 25,815 GitHub stars, 2,058 forks, 1,074 open issues and last shipped yesterday. rauthy has 1,355 stars, 140 forks, 27 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Authentik leads on adoption by 1,805% (25,815 vs 1,355 stars). Authentik is written in Python under a custom or non-standard licence; rauthy is written in Rust under Apache-2.0. Authentik has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, rauthy 10%. 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, oidc, oidc-provider), 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 | rauthy | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 26K | ★ 1.4K |
| License | Custom / other | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-10-02 | 2026-10-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.1K | ⑂ 140 |
| 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 rauthy if
- You want the rauthy feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and rauthy 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 rauthy
Rauthy is a self hosted Single Sign On identity provider written in Rust that issues OpenID Connect and OAuth 2 tokens, supports PAM, and is aimed at teams that want to run their own authentication server — from a Raspberry Pi up to a high availability cluster — without operating a heavyweight stack like Keycloak.
read the full rauthy overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Authentik or rauthy more popular?
Authentik has 25,815 GitHub stars and rauthy has 1,355. Authentik has the larger community by that measure.
Are Authentik and rauthy free?
Both are open source. Authentik has no licence declared in this registry, and rauthy is licensed under Apache-2.0. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Authentik and rauthy?
Authentik is written in Python and rauthy in Rust. 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 rauthy?
Choose Authentik if you want the larger community (25,815 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose rauthy if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.