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Cybersecurity · head to head

Authelia vs DVC

Authelia logo

Authelia

Cybersecurity

Open-source authentication and two-factor portal for reverse proxies

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
DVC logo

DVC

Machine Learning

Git-style versioning for data sets and models, with the files kept in object storage

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Authelia depends on a reverse proxy: it is not a standalone identity provider; DVC dVC knows only about files that were added through DVC, so one person copying data in by hand leaves a pipeline that reproduces to a different answer with no error and nothing to indicate which result is the real one.
  • They diverge on capability: Authelia covers Reverse proxy integration, DVC covers Pointer-file versioning.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Authelia and DVC actually diverge.

Attributes where Authelia and DVC differ
AttributeAutheliaDVC
Pricing modelOpen source, no licence feeopen-source
PlatformsDocker, Kubernetes, Linux, Self-hostedLinux, Mac, Windows
CategoryCybersecurityMachine Learning
FoundedUnknown2018

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Authelia

  • Reverse proxy integration
  • Two-factor authentication
  • Access control rules
  • Lightweight backends

Only in DVC

  • Pointer-file versioning
  • Remote storage backends
  • Pipeline definitions
  • Stage caching
  • Experiment tracking
  • Metrics and plots comparison
  • Data registry pattern
  • Content-addressed cache

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Authelia

  • Putting a login and 2FA in front of self-hosted services that have nonenot DVC
  • Adding SSO across a small set of internal tools without a full identity platformnot DVC
  • Home and small-team infrastructure behind a single reverse proxynot DVC

DVC

  • Making a model reproducible by tying the exact data set version, code commit and parameters together in one Git historynot Authelia
  • Keeping large training data out of Git while still having a repository that describes it preciselynot Authelia
  • Skipping expensive preprocessing stages that have not changed, when iterating on a later stage of a pipelinenot Authelia
  • Teams that need reproducibility but cannot get approval or budget to stand up a platform for itnot Authelia

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Authelia

  • Depends on a reverse proxy: it is not a standalone identity provider
  • Configuration is YAML-first with no administrative interface, so changes mean editing files
  • Not a full IAM: user management, provisioning and federation are limited compared with Keycloak
  • Scales poorly as an organisation-wide identity solution, which is not its target

DVC

  • DVC knows only about files that were added through DVC, so one person copying data in by hand leaves a pipeline that reproduces to a different answer with no error and nothing to indicate which result is the real one.
  • Every tracked revision writes a new pointer into Git and a new copy into the remote cache, so a data set revised daily accumulates full copies in object storage and the storage bill grows with the length of the history rather than the size of the data.
  • Merge conflicts in dvc.lock and dvc.yaml are routine on parallel branches and are unreadable to anyone who has not learned the format, which in practice means the person who introduced DVC resolves all of them.
  • Checking out a large data set materialises it in the working directory, so a laptop working against a repository with several hundred gigabytes tracked needs disk for the workspace and the cache together, and the reflink or hardlink optimisations that avoid doubling that are filesystem-dependent.
  • It has no access control of its own and inherits whatever the remote grants, so a repository everyone can read plus a bucket everyone can read means everyone can reconstruct every historical version of every data set, which is frequently not what was intended.

Pricing, plan by plan

Authelia

Free
  • AutheliaFree
    • Full functionality
    • No usage limits
    • Community support

DVC

Free
  • Open SourceFree
    • Data versioning
    • Pipeline management
    • Experiment tracking
  • DVC StudioFree
    • Web UI
    • Team collaboration
    • Visualizations

Which should you pick?

Choose Authelia if

  • You need reverse proxy integration.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Docker, Kubernetes, Linux, Self-hosted.
  • You also want two-factor authentication.
Authelia review

Choose DVC if

  • You need pointer-file versioning.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, Mac, Windows.
  • You also want remote storage backends.
DVC review

Questions people ask

Is Authelia or DVC better?
Neither clearly leads. Authelia starts at Free and DVC at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Authelia or DVC?
Authelia starts at Free and DVC at Free.
Does Authelia or DVC run on more platforms?
Authelia runs on Docker, Kubernetes, Linux, Self-hosted. DVC runs on Linux, Mac, Windows.
Can I use Authelia for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Authelia best used for?
Authelia is most often used for putting a login and 2fa in front of self-hosted services that have none, adding sso across a small set of internal tools without a full identity platform, home and small-team infrastructure behind a single reverse proxy. Of those, putting a login and 2fa in front of self-hosted services that have none and adding sso across a small set of internal tools without a full identity platform are not what DVC is typically brought in for.
What can Authelia do that DVC cannot?
Authelia covers Reverse proxy integration, Two-factor authentication, Access control rules, Lightweight backends. DVC covers Pointer-file versioning, Remote storage backends, Pipeline definitions, Stage caching.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Authelia: Is Authelia free?

Yes, open source with no licence fee.

DVC: Does DVC put my data in Git?

No. Git gets a small pointer file containing a hash. The data goes to a cache on disk and to a remote you configure, such as an S3 bucket.

Authelia: Does Authelia need a reverse proxy?

Yes. It integrates through forward authentication with Nginx, Traefik, Caddy or HAProxy rather than sitting in front of traffic itself.

DVC: Do I need to run a server?

No, and that is most of its appeal. It is a command line tool plus storage you already have. DVC Studio, the hosted web interface, is optional and separately paid.

Authelia: Authelia or Keycloak?

Authelia is far lighter and aimed at protecting self-hosted services behind a proxy. Keycloak is a full identity and access management platform, and much more to run.

DVC: How is it different from Git LFS?

Git LFS versions large files and stops there. DVC also defines pipelines, tracks which stage produced which output, records metrics and lets you compare experiments, and it works with ordinary object storage rather than an LFS server.

DVC: Is it free?

The tool is Apache 2.0 and free. You pay for the object storage that holds the data, and optionally for DVC Studio.

DVC: Can several people work on the same data set?

Yes, through the shared remote, but only if all of them use DVC for every change. The tool cannot enforce a discipline it does not own, and a single manual copy silently breaks the guarantee.

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