Anubis vs authentik
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted reverse proxy & gateways options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Not the right match-up?
Anubis
Proof-of-work proxy to block AI scraper bots
VS
authentik
Open-source identity provider with proxy outpost
| Feature | Anubis | authentik |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Reverse Proxy & Gateways | Reverse Proxy & Gateways |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | Go | Python |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 1,024 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary | docker, kubernetes, helm |
| GitHub stars | ★ 21,230 | ★ 23,666 |
| First released | 2025 | 2020 |
| Replaces | Cloudflare Bot Management | Okta, Auth0 |
Why pick each one
Choose Anubis if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 21.2k GitHub stars
Choose authentik if…
- Released under the MIT license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Kubernetes-ready with Helm charts available
- Mature project with 23.7k GitHub stars
Frequently asked questions
Is Anubis or authentik better?
Neither is universally better. authentik has the larger community, while Anubis is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Anubis and authentik free and open-source?
Yes. Anubis is licensed under MIT and authentik under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Anubis and authentik with Docker?
Anubis: yes. authentik: yes.