Authentik vs Keycloak
Which one do AI engines recommend, and how do they differ on price, fit and features?
The short answer
Keycloak is the stronger AI pick in Identity & Access Management: it has a visibility score of 5.6 versus 2.7 for Authentik, and ranks ahead in 33% of the answers that name both.
Choose Authentik if…
- AI answers describe it more positively (67% vs 33% positive)
- You need OpenID Certified coverage
- fully open-source, self-hosted IAM platform
- modern UI
Choose Keycloak if…
- You want the brand AI engines rank higher (5.6 vs 2.7)
- Free and open-source software
- Strong flexibility and customization for technical teams
- Top pick as a self-hosted option
AI visibility side by side
Latest weekly run · Nov 3
| Metric | Authentik | Keycloak |
|---|---|---|
| Visibility score | 2.7% | 5.6% |
| Change vs last week | up+1.7% | down−0.3% |
| Rank in Identity & Access Management | #24 | #15 |
| Share of voice | 0.6% | 2.1% |
| Mentions this run | 2 | 7 |
| Positive in AI answers | 67% | 33% |
The stronger value in each row is marked with a ✓.
Visibility score trend
Weekly runs over the last 60 days
Authentik +1.0000000000000002pp · Keycloak −0.7000000000000002pp over 1 weekly runs.
Engine by engine
Keycloak leads on 1 of 3 engines
Head to head in AI answers
3 engine answers name both brands
| Prompt | Engine | Authentik | Keycloak |
|---|---|---|---|
| Is there a free identity and access management platform for small teams? | ChatGPT | #1 | #2 |
| Is there a free identity and access management platform for small teams? | AI Mode | #1 | #2 |
| Is there a free identity and access management platform for small teams? | Perplexity | #5 | #4 |
Features, pricing & fit
| Dimension | Authentik | Keycloak |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Per seat | — |
| Entry price | Free; paid from $5 per seat / mo | — |
| Free plan | Yes | — |
| Deployment | Self-hosted (Kubernetes, Terraform, Docker Compose, AWS CloudFormation); no hosted version offered | Self-hosted; ships as a single lightweight container image, with clustering for scalability and availability |
| Compliance | OpenID Certified | — |
| Support | Community Discord, GitHub community support, Ticket-based support (Enterprise over $1k), Dedicated support with SLAs (Enterprise Plus) | Community support via GitHub Discussions, Commercial support via Red Hat build of Keycloak |
| Founded | 2018 | 2014 |
| Employees | 1–10 | — |
| Funding | Later-stage VC · $2M raised | — |
| Best for | Organizations that want to self-host their identity provider and keep control of their identity data, from homelabs to enterprises with thousands of users. | Teams that want to self-host standards-based single sign-on and identity brokering for their applications |
Plans side by side
Authentik
Keycloak
Pricing not available.
Pros and cons
Themes from the AI answers that mention each brand
Authentik
- fully open-source, self-hosted IAM platform
- modern UI
- easy to administer
- affordable, reliable, secure IAM platform for business use
- highly flexible with built-in MFA and proxy outposts
- you must manage hosting, updates, backups, and security yourself
Keycloak
- Free and open-source software
- Strong flexibility and customization for technical teams
- Top pick as a self-hosted option
- Backed by Red Hat and community; popular open-source IAM tool
- Supports SAML, OAuth 2.0, and OpenID Connect
- Team must handle hosting, upgrades, backups, and security
- Less operational simplicity than managed alternatives
Data collected ·ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Mode·coverage 98.8%·next run
Cite as: SlateIndex, “Authentik vs Keycloak”, https://slateindex.ai/compare/authentik-vs-keycloak, data of Nov 3, 2026. Licence: CC BY 4.0.