Authentication and identity: what users struggle with, 2026
36 sourced reports about 2 authentication and identity products, gathered from public posts and linked to where each was said. The most-discussed problem area is Reliability & bugs (25 items across the category). 2 items, across all dates, describe leaving one of these tools.
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The category at a glance
| Product | Reports | Themes | Source threads | Most-discussed area |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Keycloak | 23 | 18 | 65 | Reliability & bugs |
| authentik | 13 | 13 | 67 | Reliability & bugs |
Problem areas, ranked by number of items
Items of every date, including older ones outside the recent window the report counts above use.
| Area | Items | Keycloak | authentik |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reliability & bugs | 25 | 13 | 12 |
| Self-hosting & upgrades | 19 | 13 | 6 |
| Integrations | 19 | 10 | 9 |
| Permissions & security | 16 | 10 | 6 |
| Customization | 8 | 6 | 2 |
| API & developer experience | 7 | 4 | 3 |
| UI & usability | 7 | 4 | 3 |
| Data export & migration | 5 | 3 | 2 |
Read the products
- Keycloak problems and requests · Keycloak alternatives
- authentik problems and requests · authentik alternatives
Side by side
Method and limits
Reports come from public Hacker News comments and public issues of vendors' open-source repositories; each was extracted into a structured item, and each links to its source. A report counts once per product, however many people agreed. Open-source and developer-facing products are over-represented because that is where public discussion happens; counts show how much is said, not which tool is better. Full method and sources.
Cite as: Friction, “Authentication and identity: what users struggle with, 2026”, https://friction.grain64.com/state-of/authentication-and-identity/, data as of 2026-10-15.