authentik vs Dex
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?
authentik
Open-source identity provider with proxy outpost
VS
Dex
OpenID Connect identity provider with pluggable connectors
| Feature | authentik | Dex |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Reverse Proxy & Gateways | Identity & SSO |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Python | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | docker, kubernetes, helm | docker, kubernetes, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 23,666 | ★ 11,019 |
| First released | 2020 | 2016 |
| Replaces | Okta, Auth0 | Okta, Auth0 |
Why pick each one
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 authentik or Dex better?
Neither is universally better. authentik has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are authentik and Dex free and open-source?
Yes. authentik is licensed under MIT and Dex under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run authentik and Dex with Docker?
authentik: yes. Dex: yes.