Account types
authentik supports several account types that represent people and machine identities. The account type determines how an account is created, how it authenticates, and how it is used.
The available account types are:
- Internal users: human users whose accounts are created and managed in authentik.
- External users: human users who typically authenticate to a single application and cannot access the authentik application dashboard.
- Service accounts: non-human identities created by an administrator for integrations and automation.
- Internal service accounts: non-human identities created and managed by authentik for internal components. They can not be created by administrators.
- Agent accounts: non-human identities that act on behalf of a parent user.
Choose an account type
Use the following table to choose an account type:
| Requirement | Account type |
|---|---|
| A user that needs access to the application dashboard | Internal user |
| A user that does not need access to the application dashboard | External user |
| An administrator needs a machine identity for an integration or automation | Service account |
| An integration needs to act on behalf of a specific user | Agent account |