About Authentik
authentik is an open-source Identity Provider for modern single sign-on. It supports SAML, OAuth2 and OpenID Connect, LDAP, RADIUS and more, and is designed for self-hosting at any scale, from a small lab to production clusters. A reverse-proxy mode also lets it protect applications that lack native SSO support.
The project positions its enterprise offering as a way for organizations to replace incumbent identity providers (Okta, Auth0, Entra ID or Ping Identity) in large-scale identity management. For installation, Docker Compose is recommended for small and test setups, a Helm chart for Kubernetes suits larger setups, and official templates exist for AWS CloudFormation and a one-click DigitalOcean Marketplace app.
The codebase is mostly Python with Kubernetes tooling, and the license is listed as 'Other' on GitHub because it mixes open-source and enterprise components, so check which features fall under which terms. authentik is a common choice for self-hosters and companies who want to centralize logins across internal tools without paying per-user fees to a hosted identity vendor.
Key features
- SAML and OAuth2/OIDC provider
- LDAP and RADIUS support
- Reverse-proxy authentication for apps
- Docker Compose and Helm chart installs
- AWS CloudFormation and DigitalOcean templates
- Enterprise edition for large deployments
Good fit for
- →Single sign-on across internal and self-hosted apps
- →Replacing Auth0 or Okta with a self-hosted IdP
- →Centralized user management in a homelab
- Tags
- sso
- identity-provider
- saml
- oidc
- oauth2
- ldap
- authentication
- self-hosted
- python
Authentik: questions and answers
- What is Authentik used for?
- Authentik is an open-source identity provider for single sign-on that supports SAML, OAuth2 and OIDC, LDAP and RADIUS, built for self-hosting from home labs to large clusters. It is a good fit for single sign-on across internal and self-hosted apps, replacing Auth0 or Okta with a self-hosted IdP, and centralized user management in a homelab.
- Is Authentik open source?
- Yes. Authentik is open source under a custom licence. Its source code is on GitHub at goauthentik/authentik and is written mainly in Python.
- Is Authentik free?
- Yes. Authentik is open source, so the software itself is free to use under the terms of its own licence. Paid plans are also available, starting at $5 per seat per month.
- Can I self-host Authentik?
- Yes. Authentik can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure.
- What is Authentik an alternative to?
- Authentik is an open-source alternative to Auth0, OneLogin, Microsoft Entra ID and JumpCloud. Other open-source alternatives to Auth0 include Keycloak, WSO2 Identity Server and Casdoor.
- Is Authentik actively maintained?
- Yes. The most recent commit to Authentik was on 2 October 2026. The project has 26k stars on GitHub.
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