Logto vs authentik
Both are alternatives to Okta. Here's how they stack up — verified facts, no spin.
Also searched as authentik vs Logto — same comparison, one verdict.
Logto and authentik are closely matched on ownership (87 vs 85) — this one comes down to pricing and to which trade-offs below you can live with.
Logto
The fastest route from nothing to working sign-in.
Logto is the pragmatic middle: pre-built sign-in UI, SDKs for the common frameworks, social logins, MFA and multi-tenancy, deployable with Docker in well under an hour. It is aimed squarely at product teams who need authentication to work this week rather than an identity platform to administer for a decade. MPL-2.0 with a paid cloud tier. It is the smallest and youngest option here, which is the honest caveat, but for a startup replacing Auth0 it removes the most friction.
authentik
Modern identity that a small team can actually operate.
authentik was built on the premise that Keycloak is more than most companies need and harder than most can run. It covers SSO, MFA, SAML, OIDC, LDAP outposts and a genuinely good flow builder for custom login journeys, with a clean interface and a Docker Compose deployment. Around 23k stars. The licence is worth stating precisely: the core is MIT, the `website/` directory is CC BY-SA, and enterprise features sit under a separate commercial licence — so it is MIT-with-carve-outs rather than plainly MIT.
Side by side
10 points of comparison, every one read from a verified field. Green marks the side that wins a row outright. A dash means we do not hold that fact — never that it is zero.
| Logto | authentik | |
|---|---|---|
| Sovereignty ScoreOur transparent 0–100 composite for data ownership and exit cost. | 87 | 85 |
| Open source | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hostable | Yes | Yes |
| Local-first data | Yes | Yes |
| License | MPL-2.0 (open core; paid cloud tier) | MIT core, with enterprise and documentation carve-outs |
| Pricing | Free and self-hostable. Logto Cloud is paid with a free tier. | Free and self-hostable for the open core. Enterprise tier is commercial. |
| RAM to run it wellThe figure that actually matters, not the vendor's minimum. | — | 4 GB |
| Realistic running costWhat the box costs each month if you run it yourself. | — | $15–25/mo, against Auth0 pricing that climbs steeply past the free tier |
| Setup timeHonest first-install estimate, not the marketing quickstart. | — | Half a day for the server, longer per application you integrate |
| Ongoing maintenanceThe part nobody budgets for. | — | Moderate, and the risk is concentrated: this is the front door to everything behind it. |
Logto edges it on the Sovereignty Score, but the right pick depends on the trade-offs below.
Logto
Strengths
- +Fastest of these from zero to a working sign-in flow
- +Sign-in UI included — no screens to build
- +Good SDKs for React, Next.js, Vue and the mobile frameworks
- +MPL-2.0 is permissive and easy to reason about
Trade-offs
- −Youngest and smallest project on this page
- −Not built for employee SSO across hundreds of apps
- −Fewer enterprise features than Keycloak
- −Multi-tenancy is newer and less proven than ZITADEL's
authentik
Strengths
- +By far the easiest of these to stand up and keep running
- +Flow builder makes custom login journeys genuinely configurable
- +Modern interface a small team can navigate without training
- +Docker Compose deployment; sensible defaults
Trade-offs
- −Enterprise features are carved out of the MIT core
- −Younger and smaller than Keycloak
- −Single-vendor governance rather than a foundation
- −Fewer third-party integrations
Which one fits you
The trade-offs above, turned into a decision. Find the line that describes your team.
Choose Logto
if a lower exit cost matters more to you than any single feature, and fastest of these from zero to a working sign-in flow.
Choose authentik
if by far the easiest of these to stand up and keep running.
Neither, yet
if both carry a real cost you should weigh first — youngest and smallest project on this page, and enterprise features are carved out of the MIT core. If either of those is a dealbreaker for your team, the shortlist is wrong rather than the choice.
What it takes to run these yourself
Real requirements and honest running costs, not the vendor quickstart.
Logto vs authentik — common questions
Is Logto a better fit than authentik for identity & access management?
It depends on what you are optimising for, and the honest split is this: Logto scores 87 to authentik's 85 on data ownership and exit cost, so it is the safer choice if you care about being able to leave. authentik earns its place on a different axis — by far the easiest of these to stand up and keep running. Neither is a wrong answer for every team; the table above is the actual comparison.
What happens if we want to switch later?
Logto keeps its data local or in open formats, so leaving is an export rather than a negotiation. authentik is still self-hostable, so the files stay on your server either way — but it is not local-first by design, so check what its export produces before you rely on it.
Can I self-host Logto or authentik?
Both can be self-hosted. The difference is what it costs you in time rather than whether it is possible — see the setup and maintenance rows above.
Are Logto and authentik both alternatives to Okta?
Yes — both appear in our Okta comparison, which is why they are worth putting side by side. People usually arrive here already having decided to move off Okta and now choosing between the two replacements, which is a narrower and much easier question.
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Facts verified 2026-08-03. Licenses and pricing change — spotted something out of date? That's a correction we want.