authentikvsMail-in-a-Box
Two self-hosted projects, compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.
| authentik | Mail-in-a-Box | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 81/100 | 72/100 |
| Rank in category | #1 of 3 in IAM | #3 of 16 in Mail Server |
| GitHub stars | 26 161 | 15 446 |
| Stars, last 30 days | +449 | +27 |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 9 | 4 |
| Latest release | version/2026.8.5 · 21 Oct 2026 | v77 · 26 Sept 2026 |
| Setup | Moderate | Moderate |
| Official Docker image | Yes | No |
| License | Other | CC0-1.0 |
| Main language | Python | Python |
Which one should you pick?
authentik scores 81/100 against 72/100 for Mail-in-a-Box, so it is the safer default.
authentik ships more often: 9 stable releases in the past year, against 4 for Mail-in-a-Box.
authentik is growing faster right now (+449 stars in 30 days).
authentik details →Mail-in-a-Box details →