What is the main difference between Authentik and Cerbos?

Authentik and Cerbos are both authorization & permissions tools but differ in their approach, features, and target audience. Compare their GitHub stats, technology stack, and community adoption to make the best choice.

Which is better: Authentik or Cerbos?

The choice between Authentik and Cerbos depends on your specific needs, technical requirements, and team preferences. Both are quality open source solutions with active communities.

Can I migrate from Authentik to Cerbos?

Migration between Authentik and Cerbos is possible but requires careful planning. Consider data export/import capabilities, feature parity, and potential workflow changes.

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Authentik vs Cerbos

Learn how Authentik and Cerbos differ in their key features, development activity, technology stack and community adoption, so you can decide which of these authorization & permissions tools is best for you.

Authentik

authentik is an open-source identity provider that offers self-hosted authentication, authorization, and user management for businesses of all sizes.

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Stars
21,151
Forks
1,560
Last commit
32 minutes ago
Repository age
6 years
Self-hosted
Yes

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Cerbos

A scalable authorization layer that provides fine-grained access control through externalized policies, enabling secure and flexible permissions management.

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Stars
4,368
Forks
178
Last commit
1 day ago
Repository age
5 years
License
Apache-2.0

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Auto-fetched 18 minutes ago.

Detailed Comparison

Authentik appears to have several advantages over Cerbos, particularly in popularity, maturity and features. Consider your specific needs regarding popularity, activity, technology, maturity, licensing and features when making your decision.

Authentik wins

Community & Popularity

Authentik significantly outpaces Cerbos in community adoption with 21,151 stars compared to 4,368 stars on GitHub. This 4.8x difference suggests Authentik has a much larger and more active community. In terms of developer contributions, Authentik has 1,560 forks, indicating strong developer engagement.

Comparable

Development Activity

Both projects show recent activity, with Authentik last updated 32 minutes ago and Cerbos 1 day ago.

Comparable

Technology Stack

Both tools share common technology foundations, being built with JavaScript, CSS, Bash, Python, Golang, Rust. However, they differ in their additional technology choices: Authentik uses Typescript, JSX, Django while Cerbos leverages PHP, Java, Ruby, C#.

Authentik wins

Project Maturity

Authentik has been in development longer, starting 6 years ago, compared to Cerbos which began 5 years ago. This 1.2-year head start suggests Authentik may have more mature features and established processes.

Cerbos wins

Licensing

Cerbos is licensed under Apache-2.0, while Authentik's license terms are not publicly specified.

Comparable

Use Cases & Features

Both tools serve similar use cases in Authorization & Permissions. However, they also have distinct specializations: Authentik also focuses on Authentication & SSO while Cerbos extends into Application Security.

Authentik wins

Hosting & Deployment

Authentik provides self-hosting options for complete data control and customization, while Cerbos may be primarily cloud-based or require different deployment approaches.