authentikvspolar
Two self-hosted projects, compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.
| authentik | polar | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 81/100 | 71/100 |
| Rank in category | #1 of 3 in IAM | #1 of 13 in Billing |
| GitHub stars | 26 162 | 10 436 |
| Stars, last 30 days | +450 | +157 |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 9 | 1 |
| Latest release | version/2026.8.5 · 21 Oct 2026 | @polar-sh/cli@3.0.0 · 16 Oct 2026 |
| Setup | Moderate | Advanced |
| Official Docker image | Yes | No |
| License | Other | Apache-2.0 |
| Main language | Python | Python |
Which one should you pick?
authentik scores 81/100 against 71/100 for polar, so it is the safer default.
authentik ships more often: 9 stable releases in the past year, against 1 for polar.
If you want the quickest setup, authentik is easier to run; polar needs more configuration.
authentik is growing faster right now (+450 stars in 30 days).
authentik details →polar details →