← Back to home
Comparison · Infra & APIs

authentik vs MISP

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

authentik vs MISP: at a glance

FeatureauthentikMISP
SectorInfra & APIsInfra & APIs
Velocity score5.06.3
Sparks · 30d01
Top themesidentity-provider, sso, maintenance-branches, backportsthreat-intelligence, federation, security-hardening, ui-migration
Last editorial update2h ago2h ago
WebsiteVisit →Visit →

What is authentik?

Two supported branches, every release a bot-driven cherry-pick — authentik is in pure maintenance here

All six releases in this window are patches across two maintained branches, 2026.5.x and 2026.2.x, and nearly every commit in them is a cherry-pick bot backporting a fix from main. The content is fixes and documentation rather than capability: reverting locale-driven flow re-requests in the flow executor, handling an exception in connector controller sync setup, fixing outgoing sync discovery running once per page, migrating OpenID conformance tests to upstream images, and additional SCIM provider documentation. The one change with an operational edge is 2026.5.6 dropping curl and runit from the container image.

Read the full authentik trajectory →

What is MISP?

MISP extends instance-to-instance sync to collections while a security-hardening program runs underneath

MISP is shipping on a roughly two-week cadence, and three tracks run through every release. The first is federation: 2.5.43 added collection synchronisation between instances in both pull and push directions, with per-server toggles and feature negotiation. The second is a sustained security program — 2.5.40, 2.5.41 and 2.5.42 are all substantially security releases, with 2.5.42 alone closing two RCE vectors and a mass-assignment sweep across a 74-controller review. The third is the Overmind UI migration to Bootstrap 5, which lands a batch of converted views in nearly every release.

Read the full MISP trajectory →

authentik vs MISP: editorial side-by-side

A
authentik
INFRA · APIS
5.0

Two supported branches, every release a bot-driven cherry-pick — authentik is in pure maintenance here

◆ Current state

All six releases in this window are patches across two maintained branches, 2026.5.x and 2026.2.x, and nearly every commit in them is a cherry-pick bot backporting a fix from main. The content is fixes and documentation rather than capability: reverting locale-driven flow re-requests in the flow executor, handling an exception in connector controller sync setup, fixing outgoing sync discovery running once per page, migrating OpenID conformance tests to upstream images, and additional SCIM provider documentation. The one change with an operational edge is 2026.5.6 dropping curl and runit from the container image.

◆ Where it's heading

The release pattern says more than the contents: two branches maintained in parallel with the same fixes landing on each — 2026.2.6 and 2026.5.5 shipped the same day carrying the same conformance-test migration — which is the shape of a project supporting long-lived deployments rather than pushing users forward. Feature work is happening on main and is not visible in this feed; what reaches these branches is the fix subset. Removing curl and runit from the image continues a slow trimming of what ships inside the container.

◆ Prediction

The visible pattern supports only more of the same: alternating 2026.5.x and 2026.2.x patches assembled from cherry-picks, until a new feature branch is cut. Nothing in these entries indicates what that branch will contain.

M
MISP
INFRA · APIS
6.3

MISP extends instance-to-instance sync to collections while a security-hardening program runs underneath

◆ Current state

MISP is shipping on a roughly two-week cadence, and three tracks run through every release. The first is federation: 2.5.43 added collection synchronisation between instances in both pull and push directions, with per-server toggles and feature negotiation. The second is a sustained security program — 2.5.40, 2.5.41 and 2.5.42 are all substantially security releases, with 2.5.42 alone closing two RCE vectors and a mass-assignment sweep across a 74-controller review. The third is the Overmind UI migration to Bootstrap 5, which lands a batch of converted views in nearly every release.

◆ Where it's heading

The security work reads as a deliberate audit rather than incident response — the fixes are systematic (mass-assignment and broken-access-control across the controller layer, OIDC hardening, ACL enforcement on cluster search) and credited to named external researchers across four consecutive releases. Alongside it, the interop surface keeps widening: TAXII 2 conformance and scheduled push, STIX moved onto the upstream misp-stix library, and now collection sync. The Overmind migration is the slow constant, converting the UI tab by tab rather than in one cutover.

◆ Prediction

The Overmind migration and the Pivotick pivot explorer are both mid-rollout, so the next releases should continue converting views and fill out Pivotick rather than open a new track. Given the pattern of the last four releases, expect further externally-reported security fixes to ship alongside them.

Alternatives to authentik and MISP

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 MISP.

See all authentik alternatives → · See all MISP alternatives →

Recent activity from authentik and MISP

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

  1. 9d agoauthentik2026.5.6 drops curl and runit from the container image
  2. 16d agoauthentik2026.5.5 backport patch: connector sync and conformance tests
  3. 16d agoauthentik2026.2.6 backport patch: outgoing sync discovery fix
  4. 19d agoMISPCollections now sync between MISP instances, plus Pivotick pivot explorer
  5. 19d agoMISPHotfix for pull sync failing on untagged events
  6. 24d agoauthentik2026.5.4 backport patch: integration docs and dependency bumps
  7. 24d agoauthentik2026.2.5 backport patch: release notes and test fixes
  8. 1mo agoMISPTwo RCE fixes and a 74-controller access-control sweep, plus TAXII scheduled push
  9. 1mo agoMISPGalaxy cluster mass-assignment, OIDC redirect loop and dashboard ACL fixes
  10. 1mo agoMISPSecurity release resolving externally disclosed vulnerabilities
  11. 1mo agoauthentik2026.5.3 backport patch: release notes
  12. 1mo agoMISPMISP 2.5.39: New Dashboard Experience, Stronger STIX, Sharper Analyst Workflows

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between authentik and MISP?

They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. MISP is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 6.3 vs 5.0), with 1 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. See the at-a-glance table above for a side-by-side breakdown of velocity, recent sparks, and editorial themes.

Is authentik better than MISP?

Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. MISP is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 6.3 vs 5.0), with 1 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. 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 MISP?

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