# authentik vs Mail-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 | 26 162 ✓ | 15 446 |
| Stars, last 30 days | +450 ✓ | +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 (+450 stars in 30 days).

## Details

- [authentik](https://selfhost.directory/project/authentik) (markdown: https://selfhost.directory/project/authentik.md)
- [Mail-in-a-Box](https://selfhost.directory/project/mail-in-a-box) (markdown: https://selfhost.directory/project/mail-in-a-box.md)

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Source: https://selfhost.directory/compare/authentik-vs-mail-in-a-box