authentik vs SimpleSAMLphp
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
SimpleSAMLphp
PHP implementation of SAML and identity federation
| Feature | authentik | SimpleSAMLphp |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Reverse Proxy & Gateways | Identity & SSO |
| License | MIT | LGPL-2.1 |
| Language | Python | PHP |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, kubernetes, helm | bare-metal, source, docker |
| GitHub stars | ★ 23,666 | ★ 1,139 |
| First released | 2020 | 2007 |
| Replaces | Okta, Auth0 | Okta, PingFederate |
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 SimpleSAMLphp 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 SimpleSAMLphp free and open-source?
Yes. authentik is licensed under MIT and SimpleSAMLphp under LGPL-2.1. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run authentik and SimpleSAMLphp with Docker?
authentik: yes. SimpleSAMLphp: yes.