NetBird
NetBird's v0.81 reaches rc.3 with nothing left but cleanup.
Comparison · Infra & APIs
authentik vs Skipper
A side-by-side editorial comparison of authentik and Skipper — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
authentik vs Skipper: at a glance
What is authentik?
authentik spends its post-2026.8 cycle hardening the proxy and SCIM paths the Agent release leaned on.
authentik is four patches into the 2026.8 line, and 2026.8.4 is the largest yet: two dozen fixes concentrated in the proxy outpost, SCIM provisioning, and endpoint device lookup. The 2026.5 and 2026.2 branches are still receiving backports, so three release lines are live at once. No new capability has shipped since the 2026.8.0 Agent and Actors release in August.
What is Skipper?
Skipper's latest six tags are test and dependency work; the proxy itself is unchanged.
Skipper tags a release for nearly every merge. The newest, v0.28.36, consolidates scattered test-certificate infrastructure for mTLS, OAuth grant and proxy tests ahead of new TLS use cases. Before that came five dependency builds: govulncheck and osv-scanner fixes, 18 Go module bumps, a CI action and two fuzzing images. The last proxy changes, about a week ago, were a fade-in path that stops copying endpoints per request and a fix for stale-while-revalidate cache refresh.
authentik vs Skipper: editorial side-by-side
authentik
5.0INFRA · APIS
authentik spends its post-2026.8 cycle hardening the proxy and SCIM paths the Agent release leaned on.
◆ Current state
authentik is four patches into the 2026.8 line, and 2026.8.4 is the largest yet: two dozen fixes concentrated in the proxy outpost, SCIM provisioning, and endpoint device lookup. The 2026.5 and 2026.2 branches are still receiving backports, so three release lines are live at once. No new capability has shipped since the 2026.8.0 Agent and Actors release in August.
◆ Where it's heading
The fix pattern follows the surface 2026.8.0 opened: endpoint fact snapshots, device lookup, and machine-facing proxy behaviour are where the bugs are landing. SCIM conflict resolution and remote error reporting suggest provisioning into downstream apps is getting real production load. The project is consolidating the device-identity bet rather than extending it yet.
◆ Prediction
The entries do not show a 2026.9 or 2026.11 feature branch in release form yet, so the next visible move is likely another 2026.8.x patch; whether the Agent gains new capabilities in the next major is not clear from these notes.
Skipper
6.3INFRA · APIS
Skipper's latest six tags are test and dependency work; the proxy itself is unchanged.
◆ Current state
Skipper tags a release for nearly every merge. The newest, v0.28.36, consolidates scattered test-certificate infrastructure for mTLS, OAuth grant and proxy tests ahead of new TLS use cases. Before that came five dependency builds: govulncheck and osv-scanner fixes, 18 Go module bumps, a CI action and two fuzzing images. The last proxy changes, about a week ago, were a fade-in path that stops copying endpoints per request and a fix for stale-while-revalidate cache refresh.
◆ Where it's heading
Skipper keeps taking on edge responsibilities, identity via token exchange and response caching, while tightening the hot path. The certificate refactor explicitly prepares for more TLS cases, with a reference to a 'swarm TLS' path, which suggests mTLS between Skipper instances is next.
◆ Prediction
Expect a TLS-related feature, likely around swarm or instance-to-instance TLS, to build on the unified certificate test setup. Until then, more Dependabot tags and cache or proxy fixes.
Alternatives to authentik and Skipper
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 Skipper.
Tolgee
Tolgee adds task-aware filters as editor gains and billing plumbing alternate.
Kubernetes
Kubernetes turns its memory and scheduling primitives into operator playbooks.
Indent
Indent is turning a chat assistant into a multi-model agent that works inside your other tools.
Kestra
Kestra's first tracked release drops Bootstrap from its UI design system.
Helm
Helm 4 takes patches while Helm 3 winds down
See all authentik alternatives → · See all Skipper alternatives →
Recent activity from authentik and Skipper
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 14h agoauthentikRelease 2026.8.4
- 1d agoSkipperUnifies test certificate setup ahead of new TLS work
- 1d agoSkipperBumps the Amazon Linux base image used for fuzzing
- 1d agoSkipperBumps the OSS-Fuzz Go builder image
- 2d agoSkipperCI upload-artifact action bump
- 2d agoSkipper18 Go dependency updates, including OpenTelemetry 1.47
- 2d agoSkipperSecurity dependency fixes from govulncheck and osv-scanner
- 27d agoauthentik2026.8.3: Case-insensitive file search, search autocomplete, and blueprint fix
- 1mo agoauthentikRelease 2026.8.2
- 1mo agoauthentik2026.5.7: Backport CI and endpoint auth schema fixes
- 1mo agoauthentik2026.2.7: Container hardening and policy filter backport
- 1mo agoauthentikRelease 2026.8.1
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between authentik and Skipper?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. Skipper 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 Skipper?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. Skipper 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 Skipper?
Top Skipper alternatives in Infra & APIs are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Skipper alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/skipper for the full list with editorial commentary on each.