head to head · open source
authelia vs SuperTokens
authelia has 29,017 GitHub stars, 1,488 forks, 137 open issues and last shipped today. SuperTokens has 15,315 stars, 842 forks, 155 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. authelia leads on adoption by 89% (29,017 vs 15,315 stars). authelia is written in Go under Apache-2.0; SuperTokens is written in Java under a custom or non-standard licence. authelia has attracted 5% as many forks as stars, SuperTokens 5%. authelia 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
| authelia | SuperTokens | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 29K | ★ 15K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Custom / other |
| Written in | Go | Java |
| Last push | 2026-09-20 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.5K | ⑂ 842 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick authelia if
- You weight community size — 29K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- 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 authelia
Authelia is an open source authentication and authorization server written in Go that provides single sign on and multi factor authentication for web applications through a web portal, aimed at self hosters and platform teams who need to protect services sitting behind a reverse proxy.
read the full authelia overview →
About SuperTokens
SuperTokens is an open source authentication and session management platform for applications that need login, sign up, sign out, and user data control. It sits in the identity and access management ecosystem and is described as an alternative to Auth0, Firebase Auth, and AWS Cognito. It separates work into a frontend SDK, a backend SDK, and a Java based SuperTokens Core service that handles authentication logic and database operations.
read the full SuperTokens overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is authelia or SuperTokens more popular?
authelia has 29,017 GitHub stars and SuperTokens has 15,315. authelia has the larger community by that measure.
Are authelia and SuperTokens free?
Both are open source. authelia is licensed under Apache-2.0, and SuperTokens has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between authelia and SuperTokens?
authelia is written in Go 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, authelia or SuperTokens?
Choose authelia if you want the larger community (29,017 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose SuperTokens if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.