Identity, SSO & AuthenticationUpdated August 2026
Open-Source & Self-Hosted Alternatives to Auth0 & Okta
Enterprise identity providers charging aggressive Monthly Active User (MAU) tiered pricing.
Proprietary Pricing:$23 to $240+/month for 1,000-10,000 MAUs; Enterprise SSO starts at $1,500/mo
Self-Hosted Cost:€3.79 - €7.14/month (VPS fixed)
Average Annual Savings:Save $600 - $12,000+/year
Why Migrate Away from Auth0 & Okta?
Auth0 prices skyrocket as your app user base grows. Features like SAML/OIDC Enterprise Single Sign-On and custom branding are locked behind multi-thousand-dollar enterprise tiers. Self-hosted identity providers provide full OIDC/OAuth2/SAML protocols, multi-factor auth (Passkeys/WebAuthn), and unlimited MAUs for zero per-user cost.
Top 2 Recommended Open-Source Replacements
Tested and production-ready. Click any tool to view hardware specs and docker-compose configurations.
Authentik
GPL-3.0⭐ 14.2k+Modern open source Identity Provider with flexible policies, SSO, Passkeys/WebAuthn, and user management.
✅ Advantages
- Modern UI and Python/Go architecture
- Built-in reverse proxy authenticator
- Highly configurable flows
⚠️ Trade-offs / Limitations
- Takes some initial time to understand Stage & Policy concepts
Core Features
▸Comprehensive protocol support: OAuth2, OpenID Connect, SAML 2.0, LDAP, Proxy Auth
▸Modern Passkeys / WebAuthn, TOTP, SMS multi-factor authentication
▸Visual flow builder for customizable login, registration, and recovery stages
▸Built-in reverse proxy outpost for protecting legacy apps without code changes
▸Unlimited users and applications with zero licensing fees
📄 docker-compose.yml
Production Readyversion: '3.8'
services:
postgresql:
image: postgres:16-alpine
restart: unless-stopped
environment:
POSTGRES_PASSWORD: authentik_db_password
POSTGRES_USER: authentik
POSTGRES_DB: authentik
volumes:
- database:/var/lib/postgresql/data
redis:
image: redis:alpine
restart: unless-stopped
server:
image: ghcr.io/goauthentik/server:latest
restart: unless-stopped
command: server
environment:
AUTHENTIK_REDIS__HOST: redis
AUTHENTIK_POSTGRESQL__HOST: postgresql
AUTHENTIK_POSTGRESQL__USER: authentik
AUTHENTIK_POSTGRESQL__NAME: authentik
AUTHENTIK_POSTGRESQL__PASSWORD: authentik_db_password
AUTHENTIK_SECRET_KEY: replace_with_long_random_secret_key
volumes:
- ./media:/media
- ./custom-templates:/templates
ports:
- "9000:9000"
- "9443:9443"
depends_on:
- postgresql
- redis
worker:
image: ghcr.io/goauthentik/server:latest
restart: unless-stopped
command: worker
environment:
AUTHENTIK_REDIS__HOST: redis
AUTHENTIK_POSTGRESQL__HOST: postgresql
AUTHENTIK_POSTGRESQL__USER: authentik
AUTHENTIK_POSTGRESQL__NAME: authentik
AUTHENTIK_POSTGRESQL__PASSWORD: authentik_db_password
AUTHENTIK_SECRET_KEY: replace_with_long_random_secret_key
depends_on:
- postgresql
- redis
volumes:
database:🚀 5-Minute Deployment Guide
- 1Deploy on a 2GB+ VPS (Hetzner CX22).
- 2Generate a secure `AUTHENTIK_SECRET_KEY` with `openssl rand -base64 36`.
- 3Run `docker compose up -d`.
- 4Navigate to `http://your-server:9000/if/flow/initial-setup/` to configure the default `akadmin` password.
- 5Create your OAuth2/OIDC applications and connect your frontend/backend services.
Recommended VPS for Running Authentik
Hetzner Cloud€3.79/mo
CX22 (2 vCPU, 4GB RAM)
Handles thousands of daily authentication handshakes effortlessly.
View Deploy Instructions →Keycloak
Apache-2.0⭐ 22.5k+The battle-tested enterprise open source identity and access management solution backed by Red Hat.
✅ Advantages
- Enterprise gold standard
- Huge ecosystem of libraries & plugins
- Apache 2.0 license
⚠️ Trade-offs / Limitations
- Java-based, higher baseline memory footprint (~1.5GB RAM)
Core Features
▸Full SAML 2.0 and OpenID Connect 1.0 certification
▸User federation with Active Directory and LDAP
▸Social login integrations (GitHub, Google, Facebook, Twitter)
▸Centralized fine-grained authorization management
📄 docker-compose.yml
Production Readyversion: '3.8'
services:
keycloak:
image: quay.io/keycloak/keycloak:latest
command: start-dev
environment:
KEYCLOAK_ADMIN: admin
KEYCLOAK_ADMIN_PASSWORD: adminpassword
ports:
- "8080:8080"🚀 5-Minute Deployment Guide
- 1Provision a 2GB-4GB VPS.
- 2Run Keycloak container with Postgres database backend.
- 3Set up reverse proxy with valid TLS certificate.
Recommended VPS for Running Keycloak
Hetzner Cloud€3.79/mo
CX22 (2 vCPU, 4GB RAM)
Solid RAM headroom for Java JVM execution.
View Deploy Instructions →Quick Specification Matrix
| Tool | License | Min RAM | Min CPU | GitHub Repo | Primary Benefit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Auth0 & Okta (Proprietary) | Proprietary Closed | Managed Cloud | Managed Cloud | N/A | Turnkey but vendor lock-in & paywalls |
| Authentik | GPL-3.0 | 2 GB | 2 vCPU | goauthentik/authentik | Modern UI and Python/Go architecture |
| Keycloak | Apache-2.0 | 2 GB | 2 vCPU | keycloak/keycloak | Enterprise gold standard |