Authelia vs OpenBao
| Tagline | Self-hosted authentication server with TOTP, WebAuthn, and SSO | Open-source secrets management forked from HashiCorp Vault under the Linux Foundation |
| Category | Password Managers & Secrets | Password Managers & Secrets |
| Replaces | 1Password, HashiCorp Vault | HashiCorp Vault |
| GitHub stars | 28k | 6.8k |
| Language | Go | Go |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MPL-2.0 |
| Self-host difficulty | 3/5 Moderate | 4/5 Involved |
| Deploy options | Docker Docker Compose Kubernetes Manual | Docker Kubernetes Manual |
| Managed hosting | ||
| Last updated | 2 days ago | 2 days ago |
| View repo | View repo |
Where each falls short
The honest trade-offs — what you give up with each, versus the proprietary tools they replace.
Authelia
- Not a password vault; does not store or generate passwords for websites
- Requires a reverse proxy to function; no standalone mode
- LDAP/AD integration configuration is complex for non-enterprise users
OpenBao
- Younger project with a smaller ecosystem than HashiCorp Vault; some Vault Enterprise features and integrations are missing
- No first-party managed/cloud offering equivalent to HCP Vault
- Operating a production HA cluster (storage backend, unsealing, auto-unseal) requires real expertise
- Documentation and third-party tutorials still maturing relative to Vault's
Bottom line
Choose Authelia if you want the lower-effort setup; choose Authelia for the larger community and ecosystem. Open each guide below for deploy steps and the full feature gap.
OpenBao
Open-source secrets management forked from HashiCorp Vault under the Linux Foundation