Ably
Ably ships LiveObjects as production-ready and expands its AI Transport SDK to cover Temporal durable workflows.
Comparison · Infra & APIs
authentik vs Retool
A side-by-side editorial comparison of authentik and Retool — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
Shared themes:self-hosted
authentik vs Retool: at a glance
What is authentik?
authentik 2026.8.0 ships an Agent for machine identity and domain join, then enters rapid patch mode.
authentik is in a high-cadence maintenance cycle following the 2026.8.0 major release. Three point releases have landed in quick succession addressing admin file search, API autocomplete, and a blueprint field typo. The 2026.5 and 2026.2 legacy branches are still receiving backports, reflecting an enterprise install base that moves slowly between majors.
What is Retool?
Retool adds iframe embedding and the latest frontier AI models to its component library.
Retool is in continuous maintenance mode with weekly self-hosted releases across both stable and Edge channels — the platform's core investment is stability for on-prem customers. On the product surface, recent additions are incremental: iframe embedding makes apps composable modules rather than standalone consoles, and frontier model additions (GPT 6, Claude Fable 5.1, Gemini 3.8 Flash) keep the AI component current without changing how it works. Enterprise AI governance is getting its own surface area with the credit and token visibility page.
authentik vs Retool: editorial side-by-side
authentik
5.0INFRA · APIS
authentik 2026.8.0 ships an Agent for machine identity and domain join, then enters rapid patch mode.
◆ Current state
authentik is in a high-cadence maintenance cycle following the 2026.8.0 major release. Three point releases have landed in quick succession addressing admin file search, API autocomplete, and a blueprint field typo. The 2026.5 and 2026.2 legacy branches are still receiving backports, reflecting an enterprise install base that moves slowly between majors.
◆ Where it's heading
2026.8.0 introduced the authentik Agent — enabling machine-initiated identity flows and device domain join — alongside an Actors entity type for non-human identity tracking. This is authentik's first explicit move beyond user-focused SSO into device and service account identity, putting it in territory occupied by commercial PAM and device trust vendors. The multi-branch backport pace signals that the team is supporting long deployment cycles while actively pushing the frontier forward.
◆ Prediction
The authentik Agent and Actors system are early features — expect expanded directory sync, credential lifecycle, and machine token management in the 2026.9 cycle. If domain join matures, authentik becomes a self-hosted alternative for organizations wanting to consolidate SSO and device identity on a single stack.
Retool
6.3INFRA · APIS
Retool adds iframe embedding and the latest frontier AI models to its component library.
◆ Current state
Retool is in continuous maintenance mode with weekly self-hosted releases across both stable and Edge channels — the platform's core investment is stability for on-prem customers. On the product surface, recent additions are incremental: iframe embedding makes apps composable modules rather than standalone consoles, and frontier model additions (GPT 6, Claude Fable 5.1, Gemini 3.8 Flash) keep the AI component current without changing how it works. Enterprise AI governance is getting its own surface area with the credit and token visibility page.
◆ Where it's heading
Retool is moving in two directions simultaneously: composability (enabling apps to be embedded and reused as building blocks within larger internal platforms) and AI cost governance (visibility APIs signal that enterprise buyers are managing AI spend as a line item, not just shipping features). The self-hosted release cadence remains heavy, suggesting on-prem is still a significant part of the customer base and a meaningful differentiator in regulated industries.
◆ Prediction
The AI visibility API is likely a foundation for budget limits and team-level quotas — expect those controls to follow within a few releases. Iframe embedding will probably expand to richer cross-app state sharing once the basic display case proves out.
Alternatives to authentik and Retool
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 Retool.
Jackett
Jackett ships near-daily releases keeping its tracker catalog current with domain migrations and category fixes.
Buildkite
Buildkite ships Agent v4 after eight years and lands a VS Code extension, reshaping CI as IDE infrastructure.
Skipper
Skipper adds native RFC 9421 HTTP Message Signatures as an authentication filter
GitHub
GitHub adds agentic activity metrics to Copilot's enterprise reporting layer
Warp
Warp has rebuilt itself as a software factory platform — the terminal was the on-ramp, not the destination.
See all authentik alternatives → · See all Retool alternatives →
Recent activity from authentik and Retool
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 17h agoauthentik2026.8.3: Case-insensitive file search, search autocomplete, and blueprint fix
- 1d agoRetoolEmbed apps in iframes
- 1d agoRetoolSelf-hosted Retool stable update — September 16
- 1d agoRetoolRetool 4.58 Edge for self-hosted instances
- 8d agoRetoolNew AI models available in Retool
- 8d agoauthentikRelease 2026.8.2
- 8d agoauthentik2026.5.7: Backport CI and endpoint auth schema fixes
- 8d agoauthentik2026.2.7: Container hardening and policy filter backport
- 8d agoRetoolSelf-hosted Retool stable update — September 9
- 8d agoRetoolRetool 4.54 Edge for self-hosted instances
- 17d agoauthentikRelease 2026.8.1
- 1mo agoauthentik2026.8.0: authentik Agent, Actors for non-human identity, and device domain join ⚡
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between authentik and Retool?
Both compete on the same themes — self-hosted — within Infra & APIs. Retool is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 6.3 vs 5.0), with 0 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 Retool?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. Retool is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 6.3 vs 5.0), with 0 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 Retool?
Top Retool alternatives in Infra & APIs are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Retool alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/retool for the full list with editorial commentary on each.