We may earn a commission if you buy through links on this page. It never changes a score or a ranking. How we make money
It's a split decision.
Choose Keycloak for free, self-hosted IAM with SSO, identity brokering, LDAP/Active Directory federation, and authorization; no seat limit is published. Choose authentik for customizable workflows, broad listed protocol support, deployment templates, and a published path to per-user enterprise pricing. Both offer a free open-source option and require self-hosting. authentik’s review ease score is slightly higher (6/10 vs. 5/10), but neither is positioned as a hands-off managed service.
01Side by side
| Keycloak | authentik | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | Free, self-hosted open-source software | Free Open Source plan |
| Free plan | Open-source Apache License 2.0 | Open Source plan; no paid support |
| Best for | Flexible self-hosted IAM and centralized authorization | Custom workflows and varied deployment templates |
| Core strength | SSO, identity brokering, and user federation | Custom workflows, policies, and APIs |
| Learning curve | Review ease score: 5/10 | Review ease score: 6/10 |
| Integrations/data | OIDC, SAML, LDAP, Active Directory | OIDC, SAML, SCIM, LDAP, RADIUS, Kerberos |
| Team/seat costs | No paid plans or seat limits published | Enterprise workforce: $5/user/month, billed annually |
| Support | Support terms not published | Open Source includes Discord; no paid support |
Keycloak Choose Keycloak if
- Choose Keycloak if you want free, self-hosted IAM.
- Choose Keycloak if LDAP and Active Directory federation matter.
- Choose Keycloak if you need centralized authorization policies.
authentik Choose authentik if
- Choose authentik if customizable authentication workflows matter.
- Choose authentik if you need its listed protocol range.
- Choose authentik if you want published per-user enterprise pricing.
02Pricing compared
Both have a free, self-hosted open-source option. Keycloak lists no paid plans, and its pricing page publishes no monthly or annual price. It also publishes no seat limit, so check your expected scale and support needs rather than assuming a cap.
Authentik’s Open Source plan is free. Its Enterprise pricing is billed annually: workforce accounts cost $5 per user per month, customer accounts cost $0.02 per user per month, and agent and service accounts are included. Enterprise Plus starts at $20,000 annually, equivalent to $1,666.67 per month; monthly billing prices are not listed. The practical difference is that authentik publishes a paid upgrade path, while Keycloak does not list paid plans. Both require your team to host and maintain the software.
03Features and depth
Keycloak covers core IAM needs: single sign-on, account management, identity brokering to OpenID Connect or SAML providers, and user federation with LDAP and Active Directory. Its admin console manages users, applications, identity providers, and authorization policies. It also supports social login, two-factor authentication, and fine-grained authorization policies.
Authentik lists a wider set of protocols: OAuth2/OIDC, SAML2, SCIM, LDAP, RADIUS, and Kerberos. It also offers customizable authentication workflows and policies, APIs, MFA, and deployment templates for Kubernetes, Terraform, and Docker Compose. Its Open Source plan lists web-based RDP/SSH access.
Choose based on the integrations and controls you need, not protocol-count alone. Keycloak’s listed strengths include LDAP and Active Directory federation and centralized authorization. Authentik’s include configurable workflows, deployment templates, and explicit support for SCIM, RADIUS, and Kerberos. The published material does not establish that either product lacks features not listed for it.
04Ease of use and learning curve
Neither product is a hands-off managed service: both are self-hosted, so your team handles deployment and ongoing maintenance. Authentik’s review ease-of-use score is 6/10, compared with 5/10 for Keycloak, but that is a modest difference—not a promise of simple setup.
Authentik lists deployment templates for Kubernetes, Terraform, and Docker Compose, plus prebuilt workflows that teams can customize. Those may help teams using those deployment tools, but customization still means making configuration decisions. Keycloak offers a centralized admin console for identity and authorization management. Its review describes it as flexible but not the simplest setup. If minimizing operational work is the priority, neither is presented in the published material as a managed alternative.
Questions people ask
Is Keycloak free?
Keycloak is free to download and use under the Apache License 2.0, according to the published pricing details. It is self-hosted, and no paid plans or seat limits are published. The listed price is $0 for the software; hosting and maintenance costs are not specified.
Is authentik cheaper than Keycloak?
Both offer free open-source self-hosted options. Keycloak lists no paid plans, while authentik publishes annual Enterprise pricing: $5 per workforce user per month and $0.02 per customer user per month. Your total cost depends on account counts and operating costs, which are not provided here.
Which supports LDAP and Active Directory?
Both list LDAP support. Keycloak specifically says it can federate users from LDAP and Active Directory. Authentik lists LDAP among its supported protocols, but the published material does not specifically mention Active Directory federation for authentik.
Are Keycloak or authentik managed identity services?
The published product information describes both as self-hosted options, not hands-off managed services. Your team should plan for deployment and maintenance. Authentik lists templates for Kubernetes, Terraform, and Docker Compose, while the Keycloak details describe centralized administration through its admin console.