Authentik vs Authelia vs Keycloak: The Ultimate Home Lab SSO Guide 2026

Published on January 15, 2026

In the evolving landscape of self-hosting, security is paramount. Exposing services like Nextcloud, Portainer, or Grafana to the internet without robust protection is a recipe for disaster. While basic authentication (username/password) is a start, managing dozens of credentials for different services is a nightmare.

Enter Single Sign-On (SSO).

An SSO solution allows you to log in once and gain access to all your applications. It centralizes user management, enforces Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA), and provides a professional, enterprise-grade security layer to your home lab.

This guide provides an extreme deep-dive into the “Big Three” of open-source IAM (Identity and Access Management) for home labs: Authentik, Authelia, and Keycloak. We compare their architectures, resource usage, and capabilities based on the latest 2026 data.

1. The Contenders at a Glance

🟢 Authentik

• The Modern All-Rounder.
• License: AGPL-3.0 (Open Source with Enterprise Add-ons).
• Philosophy: “Security made simple but powerful.” It combines an Identity Provider (IdP) with a versatile policy engine.
• Best For: Most home lab users who want a balance of power, modern UI, and customizable flows. Commonly used in modern AI deployments (e.g., CoreWeave).

🔵 Authelia

• The Lightweight Gatekeeper.
• License: Apache-2.0.
• Philosophy: “Minimalist security proxy.” Starts as a companion to proxies and scales to a lightweight OIDC provider.
• Best For: Users who primarily use a Reverse Proxy (Traefik/Nginx) and want a highly efficient, low-resource (under 100MB) solution to protect specific routes.

🔴 Keycloak

• The Enterprise Standard.
• License: Apache-2.0.
• Philosophy: “Complete Identity and Access Management.” Backed by Red Hat, it is the de-facto standard for banking and government sectors.
• Best For: Learning enterprise IAM credentials, complex multi-realm setups, or developers requiring strict compliance standards.

2. Detailed Technical Breakdown

🟢 Authentik: The Flexible Powerhouse

Authentik has taken the home lab world by storm due to its modern architecture (Python/Django + Go) and incredible flexibility.

Core Capabilities

1. Unified IdP & FIPS: Supports OpenID Connect (OIDC), SAML 2.0, LDAP, and SCIM. In 2025, Authentik open-sourced key components of its FIPS compliance, ensuring high-grade security standards.
2. Flow-Based Authentication: Custom login flows using a visual editor.
   • Example: “If user is on local LAN -> Skip 2FA. If external -> Require YubiKey.”
3. Remote Access Control (RAC): Significantly updated in 2025, RAC allows you to access remote machines via RDP, SSH, and VNC directly through the browser. This feature, previously enterprise-only, is now free and open-source, allowing secure, clientless access to your servers.
4. Directory Synergy: Syncs users from LDAP or acts as an LDAP server for legacy apps.

Home Lab Use Cases

• Zero-Trust Dashboard: Serves as a central launchpad for apps.
• Secure Remote Access: Replacing a VPN for specific server access using RAC (e.g., SSH into a Raspberry Pi via web browser).

Resource Usage

• RAM: ~600MB - 1GB (Baseline).
• CPU: Low idle usage, moderate during flow execution.
• Stack: Python, Go, Redis, PostgreSQL.

🔵 Authelia: The Efficient Sentry

Authelia is built in Go, making it extremely fast and lightweight. It prioritizes security and performance over UI complexity.

Core Capabilities

1. Forward Authentication: Designed to integrate deeply with proxies (Traefik, Nginx, Caddy). The proxy asks “Is this user allowed?” before loading the page.
2. Configuration as Code: Configured almost entirely via configuration.yml. Ideal for GitOps. (Note: Community GUIs exist, but the core is YAML-driven).
3. Optimized Security: Features Argon2 hashing by default.
   • Tip: On low-memory devices (like Pi), tune Argon2 parameters (memory m, iterations t) to avoid OOM crashes, as default hashing can spike memory usage.
4. Lite OIDC Provider: Now a certified OIDC provider, allowing direct login to Nextcloud or Portainer.

Home Lab Use Cases

• The “One File” Setup: Perfect for committed-to-Git docker-compose stacks.
• Protecting “Dumb” Apps: Securing apps with no built-in auth (Sonarr, Radarr) behind a proxy.
• Hardware Pairing: Runs beautifully on Raspberry Pi 4/5 due to low idle RAM (under 50MB).

Resource Usage

• RAM: ~30MB - 150MB (Extremely efficient idle, spikes during Argon2 hashing).
• CPU: Negligible.
• Stack: Go, Redis (optional), Internal SQLite or Postgres.

🔴 Keycloak: The Heavyweight Champion

If you want to learn what runs the Fortune 500, you learn Keycloak.

Core Capabilities

1. Ultimate Standard Support: Supports extensive protocols including Docker Auth, Kerberos, and CIBA (Client-Initiated Backchannel Authentication).
2. CIBA Support: A unique feature where a device (like a smart TV or CLI tool) initiates login, and you approve it via a push notification on your phone. Great for IoT/Headless setups.
3. User Federation: Massive scale support for syncing thousands of users from AD/LDAP.
4. Fine-Grained Authorization: Attribute-level permissions (e.g., “User can read resource A only between 9 AM - 5 PM”).

Home Lab Use Cases

• Resume Building: A highly marketable enterprise skill.
• Multi-Tenancy: “Realms” allow completely validated, separate environments for “Family,” “Guests,” and “LabAdmin” with distinct user bases.

Resource Usage

• RAM: ~400MB - 2GB+ (Java/Quarkus has improved readiness, but heap requirements remain).
• CPU: High startup spikes.
• Stack: Java (Quarkus), Postgres/Oracle/MySQL.

3. 2026 Feature Comparison Matrix

4. Hardware Integrations & Pairings

Integrating these tools with hardware tokens and broader security ecosystems enhances your lab’s posture.

Hardware Tokens (YubiKey / FIDO2)

All three solutions support WebAuthn/FIDO2, allowing for phishing-resistant passwordless login.

• Authentik: Enforce physical keys for “Admin” group members via Policy.
• Authelia: Supports Passkeys and multiple hardware keys per user.
• Keycloak: Enterprise-grade WebAuthn policies (e.g., requiring specific AAGUIDs for YubiKeys).

Broader Ecosystem Pairings

• Wazuh (SIEM): Ingest auth logs from Keycloak/Authentik to detect brute-force attacks or impossible travel occurrences.
• LLDAP: A lightweight LDAP server that pairs perfectly with Authelia. Authelia handles the front-end auth, while LLDAP stores the users, keeping the stack lightweight.
• pfSense/OPNsense: Use Keycloak as a RADIUS server (via plugins) or SAML IdP for firewall admin access.

5. Integration Scenarios: Making It Work

Scenario A: The Reverse Proxy (Traefik) (Best: Authelia/Authentik)

• Authelia: Native ForwardAuth middleware in Traefik labels. fast and simple.
• Authentik: Deploys a “Proxy Outpost” container next to Traefik. Can inject advanced headers (X-Designated-User) for downstream apps.

Scenario B: Application SSO (Portainer & Proxmox) (Best: Authentik/Keycloak)

• Proxmox: Supports OIDC natively. authenticating against Authentik allows easy mapping of “Authentik Admin Group” -> “Proxmox Root Role”.
• Portainer: Works flawlessly with OIDC on all three. Authentik’s auto-discovery URLs make setup slightly faster.

Scenario C: Nextcloud (Best: Authentik/Keycloak)

• Recommendation: Use OIDC for authentication but sync groups via LDAP.
• Why? Nextcloud relies heavily on groups. Authentik can provide both the OIDC login flow AND the LDAP interface for Nextcloud to sync group memberships in the background.

6. Verdict: Which one for you?

🏆 Choose Authentik If:

• You want a visual dashboard and “Flows” logic.
• You need Remote Access (RAC) for SSH/RDP in the browser.
• You want a solution that bridges the gap between “Simple Proxy” and “Enterprise Beast.”

🛡️ Choose Authelia If:

• You run low-power hardware (Raspberry Pi, NAS).
• You prefer YAML configs and GitOps.
• Your main goal is protecting web apps behind Traefik/Nginx.

🏢 Choose Keycloak If:

• You need banking-grade compliance or CIBA.
• You are learning specifically for an Enterprise Career.
• You have a complex, multi-realm environment with legacy protocol needs.

7. Getting Started Resources

• Authentik: goauthentik.io/docs/installation/docker-compose
• Authelia: github.com/authelia/authelia
• Keycloak: quay.io/repository/keycloak/keycloak

Stay secure, self-hosters.