# authentik vs NGINX

> Two self-hosted projects, compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.

| | authentik | NGINX |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 81/100 | 84/100 ✓ |
| Rank in category | #1 of 3 in IAM | #2 of 12 in Web Servers |
| GitHub stars | 26 157 | 31 996 ✓ |
| Stars, last 30 days | +452 ✓ | +275 |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 9 | 21 ✓ |
| Latest release | version/2026.8.5 · 21 Oct 2026 | release-1.31.8 · 21 Oct 2026 |
| Setup | Moderate | Moderate ✓ |
| Official Docker image | Yes | Yes |
| License | Other | BSD-2-Clause |
| Main language | Python | C |

## Which one should you pick?

NGINX scores 84/100 against 81/100 for authentik, so it is the safer default.

NGINX ships more often: 21 stable releases in the past year, against 9 for authentik.

## Details

- [authentik](https://selfhost.directory/project/authentik) (markdown: https://selfhost.directory/project/authentik.md)
- [NGINX](https://selfhost.directory/project/nginx) (markdown: https://selfhost.directory/project/nginx.md)

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Source: https://selfhost.directory/compare/authentik-vs-nginx