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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25,286stars+2,714(+12%)

Last 30 days

Last commit
4 hours ago
Repository age
7 years
Version
2026.8.0
License
MIT
Self-hosted
Yes
Repository
goauthentik/authentik

Sponsor Authentik ongithub.com

Cerbos

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

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4,565stars+49(+1.1%)

Last 30 days

Last commit
8 hours ago
Repository age
5 years
Version
v0.55.0
License
Apache-2.0
Self-hosted
Yes
Repository
cerbos/cerbos

Detailed Comparison

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

Authentik wins

Community & Popularity

Authentik significantly outpaces Cerbos in community adoption with 25,286 stars compared to 4,565 stars on GitHub. This 5.5x difference suggests Authentik has a much larger and more active community. In terms of developer contributions, Authentik has 1,985 forks, indicating strong developer engagement.

Authentik wins

Growth Momentum

Authentik is growing faster, adding 2,714 stars in the last 30 days (+12%) against adding 49 stars for Cerbos (+1.1%). Authentik is both larger and pulling further ahead.

Comparable

Development Activity

Both projects show recent activity, with Authentik last updated 4 hours ago and Cerbos 8 hours 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 7 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.

Authentik wins

Licensing

Authentik uses the MIT license, which is more permissive than Cerbos's Apache-2.0 license, potentially offering greater flexibility for commercial use and integration.

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.

Comparable