Both Authentik and Keycloak provide enterprise-grade single sign-on, OIDC, SAML, and MFA for self-hosted application stacks. Both are serious identity providers — not lightweight utilities. The difference is philosophy: Authentik is built for modern DevOps teams who want something that works out of the box; Keycloak is the battle-tested choice for enterprise environments that need maximum protocol coverage and production history going back a decade.
Auth0 Essentials starts at $23/month for up to 1,000 monthly active users. Beyond that, the pricing scales by MAU in a way that surprises teams that grow: 10,000 MAUs cost roughly $240/month, and adding enterprise features (SAML, custom domains, MFA) pushes you to higher tiers. A self-hosted identity provider on a Liquid Web 4–8 GB Managed VPS eliminates per-MAU pricing entirely.
One docker-compose.yml deploys Authentik (SSO) + Outline (wiki) + shared PostgreSQL + Redis + Caddy; Coolify installs separately via its own script
Measured idle RAM: ~2 GB (Authentik + Outline stack) + ~770 MB (Coolify stack) = ~2.8 GB total across the host
Minimum Liquid Web tier: 8 GB Managed VPS (~$33–$40/mo); 16 GB recommended if you plan to deploy many apps via Coolify
Replaces: Okta (~$20/mo for 10 users) + Vercel Pro ($20/mo) + Notion Team ($160/mo for 10 users) = $200/mo down to ~$33/mo
Most engineering teams pay three separate vendors with no shared identity layer tying them together: Okta handles SSO, Vercel handles deployments, and Notion holds documentation. Each has its own login, its own access controls, and its own billing. This guide deploys the open-source equivalents — Authentik for identity, Coolify for self-hosted PaaS deployments, and Outline for team wiki — on a single Liquid Web 8 GB VPS, connected through OIDC so all three share one set of credentials.
Measured idle RAM: ~2.4 GB (full stack with Authentik); ~1.6 GB without Authentik
Minimum Liquid Web tier: 8 GB Managed VPS (~$33–$40/mo) — plus whatever storage you need for photos
Google One 2 TB: $9.99/mo. iCloud+ 2 TB: $9.99/mo. This stack: ~$33/mo VPS + full data ownership + face recognition that actually works offline
Google Photos removed its unlimited free tier in 2021, and iCloud keeps your photos locked inside Apple's ecosystem. Immich is a self-hosted photo and video library with a mobile app, automatic backup, face recognition, and a UI that genuinely resembles Google Photos. This guide deploys Immich on a Liquid Web 8 GB Managed VPS, with optional Authentik SSO for teams or families that want centralized login.
Minimum Liquid Web tier: 8 GB Managed VPS (~$33–$40/mo)
Linear (10 users) + Notion Team (10) + Okta (10): ~$260/mo. This stack: ~$33/mo
Engineering teams pay for Linear to track issues, Notion to write docs, and Okta to control who logs in to both. This guide deploys the self-hosted equivalents — Plane for project management, Outline for the team wiki, and Authentik as the OIDC identity provider — on a single Liquid Web 8 GB Managed VPS. One login covers everything.
