# Authelia

8 Hacker News commenters recommended Authelia and 1 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 6 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Recommended as a simple, lightweight login layer for self-hosted services, and free. Main caveat: it adds more complexity than a plain reverse proxy.

## Why people recommend it

- Simple to set up and manage (2 comments): "Authelia wasn't too difficult to set up and manage." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49757810)) "It is very simple to work with it." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47099119))
- Fits homelabs and family services (2 comments): "I feel generally okay about putting some services behind Authelia for family and friends." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50161544)) "which i feel like is a really good fit for homelabs" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47972770))

## What people warn about

- More complex than a reverse proxy (1 comments): "This is EVEN MORE complex than "just" a reverse proxy." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47764044))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Keycloak](https://hackerapproved.com/p/keycloak.md): 44 recommend
- [Authentik](https://hackerapproved.com/p/authentik.md): 14 recommend
- [FreeIPA](https://hackerapproved.com/p/freeipa.md): 14 recommend
- [Okta](https://hackerapproved.com/p/okta.md): 11 recommend
- [Microsoft Entra](https://hackerapproved.com/p/microsoft-entra.md): 8 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Authelia", https://hackerapproved.com/p/authelia/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).