Is authentik or Earthly better?

Neither clearly leads. authentik starts at Free and Earthly at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.

Which is cheaper, authentik or Earthly?

authentik starts at Free and Earthly at Free.

Does authentik or Earthly run on more platforms?

authentik runs on Docker, Kubernetes, Linux, Self-hosted. Earthly runs on Web, CLI.

Can I use authentik for free?

Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.

What is authentik best used for?

authentik is most often used for self-hosted sso across internal services without commercial identity pricing, putting authentication in front of applications that have none, via the proxy, teams who tried keycloak and wanted something less heavy. Of those, self-hosted sso across internal services without commercial identity pricing and putting authentication in front of applications that have none, via the proxy are not what Earthly is typically brought in for.

What can authentik do that Earthly cannot?

authentik covers Configurable flows, Protocol support, Application proxy, Modern admin interface. Earthly covers Policy as code, Multi-stage enforcement, AI agent governance, Repository-wide policies.

Cybersecurity · head to head

authentik vs Earthly

authentik

Cybersecurity

Open-source identity provider with flexible authentication flows

From: Free
Free plan: Yes

Full review Website

Earthly

Developer Tools

Engineering guardrails for the AI era

From: Free
Free plan: Yes

Full review Website

The short version

Each has a real cost: authentik smaller project than Keycloak, with a correspondingly smaller community and fewer integration guides; Earthly pricing model not published; requires sales contact
They diverge on capability: authentik covers Configurable flows, Earthly covers Policy as code.
Prices and features above were last checked on 29 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which authentik and Earthly actually diverge.

Attributes where authentik and Earthly differ
Attribute	authentik	Earthly
Pricing model	Open-source core with a paid enterprise tier	No pricing published on website
Platforms	Docker, Kubernetes, Linux, Self-hosted	Web, CLI
Category	Cybersecurity	Developer Tools
Founded	Unknown	2020

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 authentik

Configurable flows
Protocol support
Application proxy
Modern admin interface

Only in Earthly

Policy as code
Multi-stage enforcement
AI agent governance
Repository-wide policies
Incident response automation
Compliance management
Earthfiles build tool
Satellites

What people use each for

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

authentik

Self-hosted SSO across internal services without commercial identity pricingnot Earthly
Putting authentication in front of applications that have none, via the proxynot Earthly
Teams who tried Keycloak and wanted something less heavynot Earthly

Earthly

Enforcing engineering standards across AI and human developersnot authentik
Automating incident response procedures across all repositoriesnot authentik
Embedding compliance requirements into development workflowsnot authentik
Standardizing build processes with Earthfilesnot authentik

Where each one falls short

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

authentik

Smaller project than Keycloak, with a correspondingly smaller community and fewer integration guides
The flow model is flexible but conceptually unfamiliar, and simple setups can feel over-abstracted
Enterprise support and some governance features sit behind the paid tier
Self-hosted identity is still yours to secure, patch and keep available

Earthly

Pricing model not published; requires sales contact
Earthly Lunar is a recent launch (2025) with limited track record
Primarily GitHub-focused; limited integration with other platforms
No public documentation on pricing or feature tiers

Pricing, plan by plan

authentik

Free

Open sourceFree
- Full identity provider
- All protocols
- Community support

Earthly

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the Earthly review.

Which should you pick?

Choose authentik if

You need configurable flows.
You want to start without paying.
You work on Docker, Kubernetes, Linux, Self-hosted.
You also want protocol support.

authentik review

Choose Earthly if

You need policy as code.
You want to start without paying.
You work on Web, CLI.
You also want multi-stage enforcement.

Earthly review

Questions people ask

Is authentik or Earthly better?: Neither clearly leads. authentik starts at Free and Earthly at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, authentik or Earthly?: authentik starts at Free and Earthly at Free.
Does authentik or Earthly run on more platforms?: authentik runs on Docker, Kubernetes, Linux, Self-hosted. Earthly runs on Web, CLI.
Can I use authentik for free?: Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is authentik best used for?: authentik is most often used for self-hosted sso across internal services without commercial identity pricing, putting authentication in front of applications that have none, via the proxy, teams who tried keycloak and wanted something less heavy. Of those, self-hosted sso across internal services without commercial identity pricing and putting authentication in front of applications that have none, via the proxy are not what Earthly is typically brought in for.
What can authentik do that Earthly cannot?: authentik covers Configurable flows, Protocol support, Application proxy, Modern admin interface. Earthly covers Policy as code, Multi-stage enforcement, AI agent governance, Repository-wide policies.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

authentik: Is authentik free?

The open-source edition is free and complete for most use. An enterprise tier adds support and additional features.

Earthly: What is the difference between Earthfiles and Earthly Lunar?

Earthfiles is an open-source build tool that reached 12,000 GitHub stars and is used by companies like NVIDIA, Intel, and Databricks. Earthly Lunar is a separate governance platform launched in 2025 for enforcing standards across development workflows.

Source

authentik: authentik or Keycloak?

authentik is generally reported as easier to run and administer; Keycloak is more established with a larger community and Red Hat behind it.

Earthly: How does Earthly Lunar enforce standards?

Lunar converts engineering standards, compliance requirements, and processes documented in AGENTS.md files, wikis, and incident postmortems into enforceable guardrails that apply consistently across repositories and development stages.

Source

authentik: Can authentik protect apps with no login of their own?

Yes. Its application proxy places authentication in front of services that have no built-in authentication.

Earthly: What is the pricing for Earthly Lunar?

Pricing is not published on the website. Interested customers should contact Earthly's sales team for current pricing and feature tiers.

Source

authentik vs Earthly

authentik

Earthly

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in authentik

Only in Earthly

What people use each for

authentik

Earthly

Where each one falls short

authentik

Earthly

Pricing, plan by plan

authentik

Earthly

Which should you pick?

Choose authentik if

Choose Earthly if

Questions people ask

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Related pages

More on authentik

More on Earthly

Keep looking

Other head to heads