Authelia vs Keycloak
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted apps from related categories — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Not the right match-up?
Authelia
Authentication and authorization server for reverse proxies
VS
Keycloak
Open-source identity and access management for modern apps
| Feature | Authelia | Keycloak |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Reverse Proxy & Gateways | Identity & SSO |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Go | Java |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 1,024 MB |
| Deployment | docker, kubernetes, binary | docker, kubernetes, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 28,514 | ★ 36,058 |
| First released | 2017 | 2014 |
| Replaces | Okta, Cloudflare Access | Okta, Auth0, Microsoft Entra ID |
Why pick each one
Choose Authelia if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Kubernetes-ready with Helm charts available
- Mature project with 28.5k GitHub stars
Frequently asked questions
Is Authelia or Keycloak better?
Neither is universally better. Keycloak has the larger community, while Authelia is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Authelia and Keycloak free and open-source?
Yes. Authelia is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Keycloak under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Authelia and Keycloak with Docker?
Authelia: yes. Keycloak: yes.