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Comparison · Infra & APIs

authentik vs Casdoor

A side-by-side editorial comparison of authentik and Casdoor — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.

authentik vs Casdoor: at a glance

FeatureauthentikCasdoor
SectorInfra & APIsInfra & APIs
Velocity score5.05.0
Sparks · 30d00
Top themesidentity-provider, release-candidates, enterprise-agents, oauth2identity, authentication, mfa, security-hardening
Last editorial update8d ago3h ago
WebsiteVisit →Visit →

What is authentik?

Seven release candidates in eight days, and rc7 quietly carries the endpoint agent.

authentik is deep in the 2026.8.0 release-candidate train — seven RCs, six of them fired on a single day in early August and rc7 a week later. Most of the train is CI plumbing, docs, and cherry-picked fixes, but rc7 is an order of magnitude larger and lands substantive work: an Actors primitive in core, an enterprise Agent that requires a domain join and its own API scope, OAuth2 token exchange delegation, and a CAS source integration.

Read the full authentik trajectory →

What is Casdoor?

Casdoor is spending its release cadence moving auth checks from the client to the server

Casdoor is in a tight patch cadence: six tagged releases inside a week, most carrying a single commit. The substance is concentrated in identity enforcement rather than features - password rotation and MFA setup are now enforced server-side, admin updates to a user respect the column whitelist, sessions and tokens are revoked when a user is forbidden, and phone numbers are normalised before they are stored. The remainder is release plumbing and a PostgreSQL query fix.

Read the full Casdoor trajectory →

authentik vs Casdoor: editorial side-by-side

A
authentik
INFRA · APIS
5.0

Seven release candidates in eight days, and rc7 quietly carries the endpoint agent.

◆ Current state

authentik is deep in the 2026.8.0 release-candidate train — seven RCs, six of them fired on a single day in early August and rc7 a week later. Most of the train is CI plumbing, docs, and cherry-picked fixes, but rc7 is an order of magnitude larger and lands substantive work: an Actors primitive in core, an enterprise Agent that requires a domain join and its own API scope, OAuth2 token exchange delegation, and a CAS source integration.

◆ Where it's heading

Two threads run through the branch. The identity surface keeps broadening at the protocol edge — CAS sources, WS-Fed, token exchange delegation, GitGuardian — while the enterprise tier grows an endpoint story with Agents and Actors, pushing authentik past browser-mediated SSO toward machine and device identity. The heavy CI investment across the RCs (test job split into ten, attestation and metadata fixes, release-branch validation) reads as release engineering being hardened ahead of a major.

◆ Prediction

2026.8.0 GA is the next step, and it is where the Agents and Actors work becomes a real story rather than a cherry-pick line. Expect the RC train to close out with fix-only candidates.

C
Casdoor
INFRA · APIS
5.0

Casdoor is spending its release cadence moving auth checks from the client to the server

◆ Current state

Casdoor is in a tight patch cadence: six tagged releases inside a week, most carrying a single commit. The substance is concentrated in identity enforcement rather than features - password rotation and MFA setup are now enforced server-side, admin updates to a user respect the column whitelist, sessions and tokens are revoked when a user is forbidden, and phone numbers are normalised before they are stored. The remainder is release plumbing and a PostgreSQL query fix.

◆ Where it's heading

Read together, these commits describe one job: closing the gap between what the console enforces and what the backend enforces. Several of them move a check that previously lived in the UI into the server, which is the work of a project being deployed into environments that audit it. New authentication providers and integrations have thinned relative to this hardening pass.

◆ Prediction

The next releases most likely continue the same sweep - remaining endpoints where an admin or user request is trusted more than the server verifies - rather than adding a new identity provider.

Alternatives to authentik and Casdoor

Other Infra & APIs products tracked by Sparkpulse, ranked by recent ship velocity. Each card links to a full editorial trajectory and lets you pivot into a head-to-head comparison with either authentik or Casdoor.

See all authentik alternatives → · See all Casdoor alternatives →

Recent activity from authentik and Casdoor

Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.

  1. 22h agoCasdoorPostgreSQL queries on the token.user column fixed
  2. 2d agoCasdoorHelm chart push retries on non-fast-forward
  3. 2d agoCasdoorPassword update and MFA setup enforced server-side
  4. 2d agoCasdoorColumns whitelist respected on admin user updates
  5. 2d agoCasdoorPhone numbers normalised and validated before saving
  6. 3d agoCasdoorSessions and tokens revoked when a user is forbidden
  7. 8d agoauthentikauthentik 2026.8.0-rc7 lands Actors, enterprise Agents, and CAS sources
  8. 15d agoauthentikRelease 2026.8.0-rc6
  9. 15d agoauthentikRelease 2026.8.0-rc5
  10. 15d agoauthentikRelease 2026.8.0-rc4
  11. 15d agoauthentikRelease 2026.8.0-rc3
  12. 15d agoauthentikRelease 2026.8.0-rc2

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between authentik and Casdoor?

They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. authentik and Casdoor are shipping at a similar cadence (velocity 5.0 vs 5.0, both within Sparkpulse's "active" band). See the at-a-glance table above for a side-by-side breakdown of velocity, recent sparks, and editorial themes.

Is authentik better than Casdoor?

Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. authentik and Casdoor are shipping at a similar cadence (velocity 5.0 vs 5.0, both within Sparkpulse's "active" band). For your specific use case, the alternatives sections above list other Infra & APIs products to evaluate alongside.

What are the best alternatives to authentik?

Top authentik alternatives in Infra & APIs are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "authentik alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/authentik for the full list with editorial commentary on each.

What are the best alternatives to Casdoor?

Top Casdoor alternatives in Infra & APIs are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Casdoor alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/casdoor for the full list with editorial commentary on each.