Authelia vs Tinyauth
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted reverse proxy & gateways options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Authelia
Authentication and authorization server for reverse proxies
VS
Tinyauth
Simplest way to protect your apps with a login screen
| Feature | Authelia | Tinyauth |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 98 · Excellent | 92 · Excellent |
| Category | Reverse Proxy & Gateways | Reverse Proxy & Gateways |
| License | Apache-2.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | Go | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | docker, kubernetes, binary | docker |
| GitHub stars | ★ 29,069 | ★ 8,284 |
| First released | 2017 | 2024 |
| Replaces | Okta, Cloudflare Access | Cloudflare Access |
What are Authelia and Tinyauth?
Authelia
Authelia is an open-source authentication and authorization server providing single sign-on and two-factor authentication via a companion to reverse proxies. It protects applications behind the proxy.
- SSO and 2FA portal
- Works with major reverse proxies
- Fine-grained access rules
- LDAP and file backends
Tinyauth
Tinyauth is a lightweight authentication middleware that adds a login screen in front of any application using forward auth with reverse proxies. It supports OAuth and simple user accounts.
- Simple login screen for apps
- Forward-auth integration
- OAuth provider support
- Tiny footprint
Authelia vs Tinyauth: key differences
Both projects are written in Go. Licensing differs — Apache-2.0 for Authelia versus GPL-3.0 for Tinyauth. Tinyauth is the lighter option, starting around 64 MB of RAM against 128 MB for Authelia. Authelia is the more established project (first released 2017), while Tinyauth arrived in 2024. Authelia has the considerably larger community, at 29,069 GitHub stars versus 8,284.
Why pick each one
Choose Authelia if…
- Strong 2FA options
- Lightweight Go binary
- Fine-grained access rules
Watch out for
- Extensive YAML configuration
- Needs reverse proxy integration
Choose Tinyauth if…
- Released under the GPL-3.0 license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 8.3k GitHub stars
Frequently asked questions
Is Authelia or Tinyauth better?
Neither is universally better. Authelia has the larger community, while Tinyauth is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Authelia and Tinyauth free and open-source?
Yes. Authelia is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Tinyauth under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Authelia and Tinyauth with Docker?
Authelia: yes. Tinyauth: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Authelia or Tinyauth?
Tinyauth has the smaller minimum footprint at 64 MB of RAM, compared to about 128 MB for Authelia. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.