head to head · open source
Authentik vs SuperTokens
Authentik has 26,209 GitHub stars, 2,099 forks, 1,074 open issues and last shipped yesterday. SuperTokens has 15,340 stars, 788 forks, 155 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Authentik leads on adoption by 71% (26,209 vs 15,340 stars). Authentik is written in Python under a custom or non-standard licence; SuperTokens is written in Java under a custom or non-standard licence. Authentik has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, SuperTokens 5%. Authentik 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 | SuperTokens | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 26K | ★ 15K |
| License | Custom / other | Custom / other |
| Written in | Python | Java |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.1K | ⑂ 788 |
| 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 SuperTokens if
- You want the SuperTokens feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You evaluated both and SuperTokens 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 SuperTokens
Open Source auth provider Add secure login and session management to your apps. SDKs available for popular languages and front end frameworks e.g. Node.js, Go, Python, React.js, React Native, Vanilla JS, etc. Supertokens architecture is optimized to add secure authentication for your users without compromising on user and developer experience Three building blocks of SuperTokens architecture 1. Frontend SDK: Manages session tokens and renders login UI widgets 2. Backend SDK: Provides APIs for sign up, sign in, signout, session refreshing, etc. Your Frontend will talk to these APIs 3. SuperTokens Core: The HTTP…
read the full SuperTokens overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Authentik or SuperTokens more popular?
Authentik has 26,209 GitHub stars and SuperTokens has 15,340. Authentik has the larger community by that measure.
Are Authentik and SuperTokens free?
Neither Authentik nor SuperTokens declares a licence in this registry, so check each project's own repository before relying on either for a commercial use. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Authentik and SuperTokens?
Authentik is written in Python and SuperTokens 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 SuperTokens?
Choose Authentik if you want the larger community (26,209 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose SuperTokens if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.