authentik vs Envoy
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?
authentik
Open-source identity provider with proxy outpost
VS
Envoy
Cloud-native high-performance edge and service proxy
| Feature | authentik | Envoy |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Reverse Proxy & Gateways | Reverse Proxy & Gateways |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Python | C++ |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker, kubernetes, helm | docker, kubernetes, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 23,666 | ★ 28,735 |
| First released | 2020 | 2016 |
| Replaces | Okta, Auth0 | Nginx, HAProxy |
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
Choose Envoy if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Kubernetes-ready with Helm charts available
- Mature project with 28.7k GitHub stars
Frequently asked questions
Is authentik or Envoy better?
Neither is universally better. Envoy has the larger community, while authentik is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are authentik and Envoy free and open-source?
Yes. authentik is licensed under MIT and Envoy under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run authentik and Envoy with Docker?
authentik: yes. Envoy: yes.