authentik vs Kong Gateway
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
Kong Gateway
Cloud-native, fast, scalable API gateway
| Feature | authentik | Kong Gateway |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Reverse Proxy & Gateways | Reverse Proxy & Gateways |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Python | Lua |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker, kubernetes, helm | docker, kubernetes, helm |
| GitHub stars | ★ 23,666 | ★ 43,947 |
| First released | 2020 | 2015 |
| Replaces | Okta, Auth0 | AWS API Gateway, Apigee |
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 Kong Gateway if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Kubernetes-ready with Helm charts available
- Mature project with 43.9k GitHub stars
Frequently asked questions
Is authentik or Kong Gateway better?
Neither is universally better. Kong Gateway has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are authentik and Kong Gateway free and open-source?
Yes. authentik is licensed under MIT and Kong Gateway under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run authentik and Kong Gateway with Docker?
authentik: yes. Kong Gateway: yes.