Our take
Pick authentik if homelab and platform teams who will self-host OSS at $0 for OIDC/SAML SSO, then move to Enterprise at $5/internal user/month (annual) plus $0.02/external user when they need PAM, Entra/Workspace sync, or ticketed support over $1k. Pick ZITADEL if app teams who will stay on Cloud Free $0 (100 DAU, 3 IdPs, unlimited orgs, no card) while they invite a first user, then buy Pro at $100/month when they
Best for
authentik SSO you start at $0
ZITADEL Login you start at $0
Free plan
authentik $0 · / Free. OIDC, SAML, LDAP, SCIM, RADIUS, Kerberos, proxy. OpenID Certified™. Web-based RDP/SSH. Community Discord. No vendor support
ZITADEL $0 · / month. All security features. 100 daily active users. Unlimited stored users. Unlimited organizations. 3 identity providers. Custom workflows. Data residency: EU, US, Switzerland, Australia
Lowest paid
authentik Enterprise $5/mo
ZITADEL Pro $100
Coding agent
authentik
ZITADEL Users
Runs where
authentik Local or hosted
ZITADEL Local; you host it
Watch out
authentik There is no authentik Cloud
ZITADEL Free is 100 daily active users
Last checked
authentik 2026-10-22 · goauthentik.io/pricing
ZITADEL 2026-10-22 · zitadel.com/pricing
homelab and platform teams who will self-host OSS at $0 for OIDC/SAML SSO, then move to Enterprise at $5/internal user/month (annual) plus $0.02/external user when they need PAM, Entra/Workspace sync, or ticketed support over $1k.
Read the authentik pageapp teams who will stay on Cloud Free $0 (100 DAU, 3 IdPs, unlimited orgs, no card) while they invite a first user, then buy Pro at $100/month when they need 25k DAU, a custom domain, and the 99.5% uptime card.
Read the ZITADEL page
