Is Authelia or GovQA better?

Neither clearly leads. Authelia starts at Free and GovQA at $400/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.

Which is cheaper, Authelia or GovQA?

Authelia has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Authelia and $400/month for GovQA.

Does Authelia or GovQA run on more platforms?

Authelia runs on Docker, Kubernetes, Linux, Self-hosted. GovQA runs on Web.

Can I use Authelia for free?

Yes. Authelia has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. GovQA starts at $400/month.

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 GovQA is typically brought in for.

What can Authelia do that GovQA cannot?

Authelia covers Reverse proxy integration, Two-factor authentication, Access control rules, Lightweight backends. GovQA covers FOIA Management, Subpoena Processing, e-Discovery, Constituent Portal.

Cybersecurity · head to head

Authelia vs GovQA

Authelia

Cybersecurity

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

From: Free
Free plan: Yes

Full review Website

GovQA

Government

Government Request Management

From: $400/month
Free plan: No

Full review Website

The short version

Only Authelia has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
Each has a real cost: Authelia depends on a reverse proxy: it is not a standalone identity provider; GovQA pricing not published on vendor website; government contracting and custom quote model obscures list pricing
They diverge on capability: Authelia covers Reverse proxy integration, GovQA covers FOIA Management.
Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Authelia and GovQA actually diverge.

Attributes where Authelia and GovQA differ
Attribute	Authelia	GovQA
Starting price	Free	$400/month
Pricing model	Open source, no licence fee	subscription
Free tier	Yes	No
Platforms	Docker, Kubernetes, Linux, Self-hosted	Web
Category	Cybersecurity	Government
Founded	Unknown	1999

Identical on both: 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 GovQA

FOIA Management
Subpoena Processing
e-Discovery
Constituent Portal
Reporting
Document Management
Email
Court Systems

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 GovQA
Adding SSO across a small set of internal tools without a full identity platformnot GovQA
Home and small-team infrastructure behind a single reverse proxynot GovQA

GovQA

Public records request management and legal compliance automationnot Authelia
Digital communication delivery to residents and constituentsnot Authelia
Service request management for government agencies and local departmentsnot Authelia
Agenda and meeting management for city councils and boardsnot Authelia
Business licensing and permitting workflow automationnot 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

GovQA

Pricing not published on vendor website; government contracting and custom quote model obscures list pricing
Requires booking a demo to learn pricing and deployment options

Pricing, plan by plan

Authelia

Free

AutheliaFree
- Full functionality
- No usage limits
- Community support

GovQA

$400/month

Request Management$400/month
- FOIA Management
- e-Discovery
- Constituent Portal

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 GovQA if

You need foia management.
You also want subpoena processing.

GovQA review

Questions people ask

Is Authelia or GovQA better?: Neither clearly leads. Authelia starts at Free and GovQA at $400/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Authelia or GovQA?: Authelia has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Authelia and $400/month for GovQA.
Does Authelia or GovQA run on more platforms?: Authelia runs on Docker, Kubernetes, Linux, Self-hosted. GovQA runs on Web.
Can I use Authelia for free?: Yes. Authelia has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. GovQA starts at $400/month.
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 GovQA is typically brought in for.
What can Authelia do that GovQA cannot?: Authelia covers Reverse proxy integration, Two-factor authentication, Access control rules, Lightweight backends. GovQA covers FOIA Management, Subpoena Processing, e-Discovery, Constituent Portal.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Authelia: Is Authelia free?

Yes, open source with no licence fee.

GovQA: What does GovQA (formerly Granicus) cost?

Granicus does not display pricing on its website. The vendor requires customers to schedule a demo or contact sales to receive cost estimates.

Source

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.

GovQA: Does Granicus offer Government Experience Agent (GXA) pricing separately?

Granicus lists Government Experience Agent as a feature of its Government Experience Cloud platform, but separate licensing costs are not published.

Source

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.

GovQA: How many users can access Granicus services under one license?

Granicus does not specify user seat counts, unlimited user models, or per-agency pricing on its website. Licensing terms vary by government size and jurisdiction.

Source

Authelia vs GovQA

Authelia

GovQA

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in Authelia

Only in GovQA

What people use each for

Authelia

GovQA

Where each one falls short

Authelia

GovQA

Pricing, plan by plan

Authelia

GovQA

Which should you pick?

Choose Authelia if

Choose GovQA if

Questions people ask

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Related pages

More on Authelia

More on GovQA

Keep looking

Other head to heads