authentik vs Ory Kratos
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
Ory Kratos
Headless identity and user management API server
| Feature | authentik | Ory Kratos |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Reverse Proxy & Gateways | Identity & SSO |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Python | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, kubernetes, helm | docker, kubernetes, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 23,666 | ★ 13,815 |
| First released | 2020 | 2020 |
| Replaces | Okta, Auth0 | Auth0, Firebase Auth |
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 Ory Kratos if…
- Extremely flexible architecture
- Excellent for custom frontends
Frequently asked questions
Is authentik or Ory Kratos better?
authentik is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler medium setup. Consider Ory Kratos if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are authentik and Ory Kratos free and open-source?
Yes. authentik is licensed under MIT and Ory Kratos under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run authentik and Ory Kratos with Docker?
authentik: yes. Ory Kratos: yes.