head to head
Auth0 vs Authentik
Authentik is the open source alternative to Auth0 — identity and access management platform. Here is the honest comparison.
Yes — Authentik is a viable free replacement for Auth0. Authentik is open source under its own open-source terms, written in Python, with 25,600 GitHub stars, 2,019 forks and 1,074 open issues; it was last pushed 4 hours ago. Auth0 costs from $35, while self-hosting Authentik carries no licence fee — the trade is your operational time instead of a subscription. 2 other open source Auth0 alternatives are tracked here, led by Keycloak at 36,832 stars. Authentik ranks #2 of 3 tracked open source Auth0 alternatives by stars. The tracked set, by adoption: Keycloak (36,832 stars), Logto (14,580 stars). Replacement criteria on this page: 4 reasons to move to Authentik and 3 reasons to stay on Auth0.
choose Authentik if
- Your Auth0 bill is growing with seats or usage
- You need your data in a format and server you control
- Your compliance posture requires auditing the code that touches sensitive data
- You have (or can rent) a server and basic Docker comfort
stick with Auth0 if
- You need the polished onboarding and support SLAs of a commercial vendor
- Your team has zero capacity to operate software, even self-hosted-simple
- You depend on a Auth0 integration ecosystem that the OSS alternatives have not replicated
Side by side
| Authentik (open source) | Auth0 | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free (self-hosted) | $35-$240/month |
| License | Custom / other | Proprietary |
| Source code | Public, auditable | Closed |
| Self-hosting | Yes — goauthentik/authentik | Cloud only |
| Data ownership | Your server, your format | Vendor's cloud |
| Community | ★ 26K · ⑂ 2.0K | — |
| Built with | Python | — |
Why people look for a Auth0 alternative
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 →
Other open source alternatives to Auth0
last updated nightly · ranking method: github stars, live-tracked
Frequently asked questions
Is Authentik a good replacement for Auth0?
Authentik is an open source alternative to Auth0 (Identity and access management platform). It is written in Python and licensed under its own terms, with 25,600 GitHub stars.
Is Authentik free compared to Auth0?
Yes. Authentik is open source — there is no licence fee, and you can self-host it. Auth0 is typically a paid subscription, so the trade-off is licence cost against the operational work of running it yourself.
How do I migrate from Auth0 to Authentik?
Migration effort depends on the data formats involved. Check Authentik's documentation for import options, and compare the feature table above to confirm the capabilities you depend on are covered before switching.