authentik vs Kanidm
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
Kanidm
Modern, simple and secure identity management server
| Feature | authentik | Kanidm |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Reverse Proxy & Gateways | Identity & SSO |
| License | MIT | MPL-2.0 |
| Language | Python | Rust |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, kubernetes, helm | docker, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 23,666 | ★ 5,214 |
| First released | 2020 | 2019 |
| Replaces | Okta, Auth0 | Active Directory, Okta |
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 Kanidm 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 Kanidm free and open-source?
Yes. authentik is licensed under MIT and Kanidm under MPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run authentik and Kanidm with Docker?
authentik: yes. Kanidm: yes.