head to head · open source
Better Auth vs Authentik
Better Auth has 29,988 GitHub stars, 2,894 forks, 723 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Authentik has 25,600 stars, 2,019 forks, 1,074 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Better Auth leads on adoption by 17% (29,988 vs 25,600 stars). Better Auth is written in TypeScript under MIT; Authentik is written in Python under a custom or non-standard licence. Better Auth has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, Authentik 8%. 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, 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.
← all 8884 open source comparisons
Side by side
| Better Auth | Authentik | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 30K | ★ 26K |
| License | MIT | Custom / other |
| Written in | TypeScript | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.9K | ⑂ 2.0K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Better Auth if
- You weight community size — 30K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Authentik if
- You want the Authentik feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and Authentik fits your workflow better
About Better Auth
Better Auth is a framework agnostic authentication and authorization framework written in TypeScript. It targets the broader JavaScript/TypeScript ecosystem and is designed to integrate with any backend or frontend framework, including Next.js, Express, SvelteKit, and others. It provides a unified API surface for core identity workflows such as sign up, sign in, session management, and passwordless flows.
read the full Better Auth overview →
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 →
More in Security & Privacy
Related comparisons
More Identity & Access Management (IAM) projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Identity & Access Management (IAM) field.
Frequently asked questions
Is Better Auth or Authentik more popular?
Better Auth has 29,988 GitHub stars and Authentik has 25,600. Better Auth has the larger community by that measure.
Are Better Auth and Authentik free?
Both are open source. Better Auth is licensed under MIT, and Authentik has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Better Auth and Authentik?
Better Auth is written in TypeScript and Authentik 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, Better Auth or Authentik?
Choose Better Auth if you want the larger community (29,988 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Authentik if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.