authentikvsnforwardauth
Two self-hosted projects, compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.
| authentik | nforwardauth | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 81/100 | 44/100 |
| Rank in category | #1 of 3 in IAM | #28 of 40 in Authentication |
| GitHub stars | 26 155 | 159 |
| Stars, last 30 days | +450 | — |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 9 | 1 |
| Latest release | version/2026.8.5 · 21 Oct 2026 | v1.5.1 · 10 Jul 2026 |
| Setup | Moderate | Moderate |
| Official Docker image | Yes | Yes |
| License | Other | MIT |
| Main language | Python | Rust |
Which one should you pick?
authentik scores 81/100 against 44/100 for nforwardauth, so it is the safer default.
authentik ships more often: 9 stable releases in the past year, against 1 for nforwardauth.
authentik is growing faster right now (+450 stars in 30 days).
authentik details →nforwardauth details →