authentik vs Keycloak
| Feature | authentik | Keycloak |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Security & Auth | Security & Auth |
| Sub-category | Identity Provider | Identity Provider |
| Maturity | stable | stable |
| Complexity | intermediate | intermediate |
| Performance tier | medium | medium |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| License type | permissive | permissive |
| Pricing | fully free | fully free |
| GitHub stars | 15.0K | 24.0K |
| Contributors | 0 | 0 |
| Commit frequency | weekly | weekly |
| Plugin ecosystem | none | none |
| Docs quality | good | good |
| Backing org | authentik / Jens Langhammer | Red Hat / CNCF |
| Funding model | community | corporate |
| Min RAM | 1 GB | 1 GB |
| Min CPU cores | 1 | 1 |
| Scaling pattern | single_node | single_node |
| Self-hostable | Yes | Yes |
| K8s native | No | No |
| Offline capable | No | No |
| Vendor lock-in | none | none |
| Languages | Python, Go | Java |
| API type | REST | REST |
| Protocols | HTTP | HTTP |
| Deployment | docker | docker |
| SDK languages | — | — |
| Team size fit | solo, small, medium, enterprise | solo, small, medium, enterprise |
| First release | 2020 | 2020 |
| Latest version | — | — |
When to use authentik
- ✓ Primary: single-sign-on
- ✓ Primary: user-management
- ✓ Primary: application-proxy
When to use Keycloak
- ✓ Primary: single-sign-on
- ✓ Primary: identity-management
- ✓ Primary: user-authentication