authentik vs Hanko
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
Hanko
Passkey-first authentication for modern applications
| Feature | authentik | Hanko |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Reverse Proxy & Gateways | Identity & SSO |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | Python | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker, kubernetes, helm | docker, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 23,666 | ★ 9,002 |
| First released | 2020 | 2022 |
| Replaces | Okta, Auth0 | Auth0, Clerk |
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 Hanko if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 9k GitHub stars
- Written in Go
Frequently asked questions
Is authentik or Hanko 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 Hanko free and open-source?
Yes. authentik is licensed under MIT and Hanko under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run authentik and Hanko with Docker?
authentik: yes. Hanko: yes.