Top 5 open-source Okta alternatives in 2026

Okta Workforce Identity is the default for employee SSO: a portal of SaaS apps, MFA, lifecycle management and thousands of prebuilt integrations. It's also sold per user per month, billed annually with a contract minimum, and it runs only in Okta's cloud. Teams look for open-source alternatives to cut that bill, to keep identity data on their own servers, or to cover apps and devices Okta doesn't reach.

What a real Okta replacement needs:

• SSO for SaaS apps over SAML and OIDC, ideally with an app portal for users.
• MFA: authenticator apps, passkeys or security keys.
• Directory integration: pull users from Active Directory, LDAP or HR systems, and push them to apps with SCIM.
• Coverage for non-web apps: VPNs, Wi-Fi and older software that only speak LDAP or RADIUS.

At a glance

1. Casdoor

Casdoor covers employees, customers and AI agents in one open-source platform. For workforce use, it's a SAML and OIDC IdP for SaaS apps, a CAS server for older apps, and an LDAP and RADIUS server for VPNs, Wi-Fi and network gear, all from the same accounts and MFA. Users get an app portal, and Casbin-based permissions (RBAC, ABAC) are built in.

Syncers import users and groups from Okta, Active Directory, LDAP, Entra ID, Google Workspace and others, so you can run it next to Okta and move apps over gradually. Self-host it for free, or use Casdoor Cloud: a dedicated instance from $24/month billed yearly ($29 month to month), with no per-user fees.

Trade-offs: far fewer prebuilt app integrations than Okta's catalog (most apps connect through generic SAML or OIDC), and Casdoor Cloud doesn't have SOC 2 or ISO 27001 reports yet. See Casdoor vs Okta.

2. Keycloak

Keycloak is the most widely deployed open-source IdP. It federates users from LDAP and Active Directory, brokers external IdPs, and serves SAML and OIDC to your apps, with Red Hat support available through its subscriptions.

Trade-offs: it doesn't serve LDAP or RADIUS itself, and it's a Java service to run and upgrade yourself. See Casdoor vs Keycloak.

3. authentik

authentik has an app library portal, visual flow designer, and outposts that add LDAP, RADIUS and proxy authentication for apps without SSO. It's a favorite in homelabs and growing in small companies.

Trade-offs: no hosted version, and enterprise features cost $5 per internal user per month. See Casdoor vs authentik.

4. Zitadel

Zitadel is a Go identity platform with organizations, delegated administration, SAML and OIDC, and a managed cloud. It leans toward customer identity for B2B SaaS more than employee SSO.

Trade-offs: AGPL-3.0, and it doesn't serve LDAP or RADIUS for network devices. See Casdoor vs Zitadel.

5. Authelia

Authelia is a lightweight authentication server that sits next to a reverse proxy (Traefik, Caddy, NGINX, HAProxy or Envoy) and adds login and MFA in front of any web app, plus OpenID Connect for apps that support it. Users come from a YAML file or an LDAP server.

Trade-offs: no SAML, no admin console and no user management of its own, so it complements a directory rather than replacing Okta outright. See Casdoor vs Authelia.

Moving off Okta

1. Stand up the new IdP next to Okta and sync users and groups into it (Casdoor's Okta syncer does this directly), or from the directory Okta itself syncs from.
2. Enroll MFA. Authenticator enrollments don't move with the users, so people set up MFA again; spread this over a few weeks.
3. Move apps in batches, starting with the least critical. SAML and OIDC apps need new metadata or an issuer URL, client ID and secret.
4. Switch provisioning (SCIM) and decommission Okta once the last app is moved.

Which one should you choose?

• You want one platform for SaaS SSO, VPN and Wi-Fi, with a managed option and no per-user fees: Casdoor.
• You have Java expertise or want Red Hat support: Keycloak.
• A small team or homelab that likes visual flows: authentik.
• Your real need is customer identity for B2B SaaS: Zitadel or Casdoor.
• You just want login and MFA in front of internal web apps: Authelia.