head to head · open source
Better Auth vs cas
Better Auth has 30,553 GitHub stars, 3,052 forks, 723 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. cas has 11,394 stars, 3,955 forks, 17 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Better Auth leads on adoption by 168% (30,553 vs 11,394 stars). Better Auth is written in TypeScript under MIT; cas is written in Java under Apache-2.0. Better Auth has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, cas 35%. cas was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (authentication, oauth2), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| Better Auth | cas | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 31K | ★ 11K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Java |
| Last push | 2026-11-01 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.1K | ⑂ 4.0K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Better Auth if
- You weight community size — 31K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick cas if
- You want the cas feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You evaluated both and cas fits your workflow better
About Better Auth
Discord · Website · Issues Better Auth Better Auth is a framework agnostic authentication (and authorization) framework for TypeScript. It provides a comprehensive set of features out of the box and includes a plugin ecosystem that simplifies adding advanced functionalities with minimal code in a short amount of time. Whether you need 2FA, multi tenant support, or other complex features, it lets you focus on building your actual application instead of reinventing the wheel. Why Better Auth Authentication in the TypeScript ecosystem is a half solved problem. Other open source libraries often require a lot of…
read the full Better Auth overview →
About cas
Central Authentication Service (CAS) [ ][casslack] [ ][cassupport] Introduction Welcome to the home of the [Central Authentication Service project][apereocas], more commonly referred to as CAS. CAS is an enterprise multilingual identity provider and single sign on solution for the web and attempts to be a comprehensive platform for your authentication and authorization needs. CAS is an open and well documented authentication protocol. The primary implementation of the protocol is an open source Java server component by the same name hosted here, with support for a plethora of additional authentication protocols…
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Frequently asked questions
Is Better Auth or cas more popular?
Better Auth has 30,553 GitHub stars and cas has 11,394. Better Auth has the larger community by that measure.
Are Better Auth and cas free?
Both are open source. Better Auth is licensed under MIT and cas under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Better Auth and cas?
Better Auth is written in TypeScript and cas in Java. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Better Auth or cas?
Choose Better Auth if you want the larger community (30,553 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose cas if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.