Keycloak vs authentik

Keycloak9.4Visit authentik9.2Visit

Higher score Keycloak #1 in OAuth Server Software 9.4/10 Open source ✓ 0 of 5 features Visit Keycloak

vs

authentik #2 in OAuth Server Software 9.2/10 Free plan Free plan✓ 0 of 5 features Visit authentik

• Keycloak fits best

  Broad self-hosted identity deployments

• authentik fits best

  Feature-rich open-source identity teams

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Side by side

Feature	Keycloak 9.4/10 Visit ↗	authentik 9.2/10 Visit ↗
At a glance
Editor score	9.4	9.2
Ranking	#1 in OAuth Server Software	#2 in OAuth Server Software
Best for	Broad self-hosted identity deployments	Feature-rich open-source identity teams
Pricing model	Free	Free plan + paid
Starting price	Open source	$5/user/mo
Free plan	Not checked yet	✓ (best)
Free trial	—	—
Deployment	Cloud, Desktop, Self-hosted	Cloud, Self-hosted
Platforms	Web, Windows, Linux	Web
Integrations	10 integrations	11 integrations
Features Keycloak 0/5 · authentik 0/5
OpenID Connect	Not checked yet	Not checked yet
SAML support	Not checked yet	Not checked yet
Self-hosting	Not checked yet	Not checked yet
Token introspection	Not checked yet	Not checked yet
Machine-to-machine auth	Not checked yet	Not checked yet
Specs
Deployment model	Not checked yet	Not checked yet
Our review
Pros	Supports OpenID Connect, OAuth 2.0, and SAML 2.0 Combines SSO, federation, MFA, and fine-grained authorization Runs with VMs, containers, Kubernetes, and OpenShift	Free open-source tier covers major identity and directory protocols MFA, adaptive policies, provisioning, and application proxying Enterprise adds PAM, audit logging, and scheduled offboarding
Cons	Organizations must deploy and manage the server themselves SCIM support is preview functionality SCIM is disabled by default	Deployment is self-hosted rather than hosted by the vendor Advanced enterprise capabilities require paid plans Enterprise Plus uses custom contracts and dedicated support
Our verdict	Keycloak is an open-source identity and access management server for web applications, REST services, and other applications. It suits organizations that want to operate their own authentication layer across multiple services and… Read the review →	authentik is a self-hosted identity provider and single sign-on platform for site administrators, application developers, and security engineers. Its free open-source edition supports OAuth2/OpenID Connect, SAML, LDAP, SCIM, RADIUS,… Read the review →

Strengths and trade-offs

• Keycloak — where it wins

  • Supports OpenID Connect, OAuth 2.0, and SAML 2.0
  • Combines SSO, federation, MFA, and fine-grained authorization
  • Runs with VMs, containers, Kubernetes, and OpenShift

  Where it doesn't

  • Organizations must deploy and manage the server themselves
  • SCIM support is preview functionality
  • SCIM is disabled by default

• authentik — where it wins

  • Free open-source tier covers major identity and directory protocols
  • MFA, adaptive policies, provisioning, and application proxying
  • Enterprise adds PAM, audit logging, and scheduled offboarding

  Where it doesn't

  • Deployment is self-hosted rather than hosted by the vendor
  • Advanced enterprise capabilities require paid plans
  • Enterprise Plus uses custom contracts and dedicated support

• Keycloak9.4/10 · Open source

  A broad, self-hosted IAM server for standards-based authentication and authorization.

  Visit KeycloakFull verdict →
• authentik9.2/10 · Free plan

  A broad, self-hosted identity stack for teams that need open-source control.

  Visit authentikFull verdict →