Is authentik or Ory better?

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

Which is cheaper, authentik or Ory?

authentik starts at Free and Ory at Free.

Does authentik or Ory run on more platforms?

authentik runs on Docker, Kubernetes, Linux, Self-hosted. Ory runs on web, api.

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 Ory is typically brought in for.

What can authentik do that Ory cannot?

authentik covers Configurable flows, Protocol support, Application proxy, Modern admin interface. Ory covers Authentication APIs, Permissions engine, Machine-to-machine tokens, B2B organizations.

Cybersecurity · head to head

authentik vs Ory

authentik

Cybersecurity

Open-source identity provider with flexible authentication flows

From: Free
Rated: -

Full review Website

Ory

Cybersecurity

Open-source identity, authentication, and permissions infrastructure

From: Free
Rated: -

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; Ory production and Growth plans are billed annually ($770/year and $9,350/year), which is a larger upfront commitment than monthly-only competitors.
They diverge on capability: authentik covers Configurable flows, Ory covers Authentication APIs.
Prices and features above were last checked on 29 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which authentik and Ory actually diverge.

Attributes where authentik and Ory differ
Attribute	authentik	Ory
Pricing model	Open-source core with a paid enterprise tier	usage-based
Platforms	Docker, Kubernetes, Linux, Self-hosted	web, api

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

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 Ory

Authentication APIs
Permissions engine
Machine-to-machine tokens
B2B organizations
SAML SSO
Multi-region deployments

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 Ory
Putting authentication in front of applications that have none, via the proxynot Ory
Teams who tried Keycloak and wanted something less heavynot Ory

Ory

Adding self-hosted or cloud identity to a new productnot authentik
Implementing fine-grained permission checksnot authentik
Supporting B2B organizations and multi-tenancynot authentik
Building machine-to-machine authentication for microservicesnot 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

Ory

Production and Growth plans are billed annually ($770/year and $9,350/year), which is a larger upfront commitment than monthly-only competitors.
SAML SSO and multi-region deployments are reserved for the custom-priced Enterprise tier.
Usage-based pricing across aDAU, M2M tokens, and permission checks makes cost estimation more complex than flat per-MAU billing.

Pricing, plan by plan

authentik

Free

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

Ory

Free

DeveloperFree
- Community support
- No production environments
Production$64/month
- $21 monthly credit included
- 1 production environment
- 3 staging environments
Growth$779/month
- $255 monthly credit included
- 2 production environments
- B2B organizations (max 3)

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 Ory if

You need authentication apis.
You want to start without paying.
You work on web, api.
You also want permissions engine.

Ory review

Questions people ask

Is authentik or Ory better?: Neither clearly leads. authentik starts at Free and Ory at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, authentik or Ory?: authentik starts at Free and Ory at Free.
Does authentik or Ory run on more platforms?: authentik runs on Docker, Kubernetes, Linux, Self-hosted. Ory runs on web, api.
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 Ory is typically brought in for.
What can authentik do that Ory cannot?: authentik covers Configurable flows, Protocol support, Application proxy, Modern admin interface. Ory covers Authentication APIs, Permissions engine, Machine-to-machine tokens, B2B organizations.

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.

Ory: What does Ory cost?

Ory has a free Developer tier, a Production plan at $770/year including a $21 monthly credit, a Growth plan at $9,350/year including a $255 monthly credit, and custom Enterprise pricing.

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.

Ory: How is usage metered?

Beyond the included credit, Ory charges per average daily active user (aDAU), per machine-to-machine token, and per permission check, with lower per-unit rates on the Growth plan.

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.

Ory: What payment methods are supported?

Ory accepts credit cards (Visa, MasterCard, Amex) and bank transfer, processed via Stripe.

Source

authentik vs Ory

authentik

Ory

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in authentik

Only in Ory

What people use each for

authentik

Ory

Where each one falls short

authentik

Ory

Pricing, plan by plan

authentik

Ory

Which should you pick?

Choose authentik if

Choose Ory if

Questions people ask

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Related pages

More on authentik

More on Ory

Keep looking

Other head to heads