Authelia vs Keycloak in 2025: Which One Should You Choose?
- Philip Moses
- 2 days ago
- 2 min read
When it comes to securing applications and managing user logins, two open-source tools stand out in 2025 — Authelia and Keycloak. Both offer single sign-on (SSO) and two-factor authentication (2FA), but they serve different types of users.
👉 In this blog, we will compare Authelia vs Keycloak in terms of features, ease of use, performance, and best use cases, so you can decide which one fits your needs.
What is Authelia?
Authelia is a lightweight authentication and authorization server. It’s often used with reverse proxies like Nginx, Traefik, or Caddy. Authelia is popular with home labs, small businesses, and self-hosted setups because it’s simple, fast, and secure.
Key highlights of Authelia in 2025:
Small and resource-friendly (runs on minimal hardware)
Supports SSO, 2FA, and passwordless login with passkeys
Works well with Docker and Kubernetes
Perfect for protecting apps like Nextcloud, Home Assistant, or Jenkins
What is Keycloak?
Keycloak is a full-featured identity and access management (IAM) platform. It’s backed by the Linux Foundation and widely used by enterprises for large-scale deployments. Keycloak acts as a central identity provider for all apps and services.
Key highlights of Keycloak in 2025:
Enterprise-ready with SSO, OIDC, OAuth2, SAML, and LDAP support
Scalable and high-performance (can handle thousands of users)
Integrates with Google, GitHub, and other social logins
Rich admin console for managing users, roles, and policies
Now supports passkeys and passwordless login out of the box
Authelia vs Keycloak: Head-to-Head
Feature | Authelia | Keycloak |
| Easy with Docker & reverse proxies | More complex, requires setup & admin |
| Home labs, small teams, startups | Enterprises, large apps, cloud IAM |
| Very lightweight (low memory use) | Powerful but resource heavy |
| SSO, 2FA, passkeys (WebAuthn) | SSO, 2FA, passkeys, social logins |
| Good for small-medium setups | Built for enterprise scale |
| Active open-source community | Backed by Linux Foundation & Red Hat |
Which One Should You Choose
Choose Authelia if you want a simple, lightweight, and secure solution for personal projects, small businesses, or internal apps. It’s easy to set up with Docker and works great with reverse proxies.
Choose Keycloak if you need a complete identity management system for enterprise or cloud environments, where scalability, integration, and advanced features matter more.
Final Thoughts
Both Authelia and Keycloak are excellent open-source authentication tools in 2025. Authelia shines in simplicity and speed, while Keycloak stands out with its enterprise-level features and scalability.
The right choice depends on your use case: Authelia for lightweight setups, Keycloak for enterprise IAM.
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