head to head · open source
Better Auth vs melody-auth
Better Auth has 30,579 GitHub stars, 3,061 forks, 723 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. melody-auth has 651 stars, 70 forks, 3 open issues and last shipped 8 days ago. Better Auth leads on adoption by 4,597% (30,579 vs 651 stars). Better Auth is written in TypeScript under MIT; melody-auth is written in TypeScript under MIT. Better Auth has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, melody-auth 11%. Better Auth was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (oauth2, oidc), 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 | melody-auth | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 31K | ★ 651 |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-01 | 2026-10-27 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.1K | ⑂ 70 |
| 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 melody-auth if
- You want the melody-auth feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and melody-auth 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 melody-auth
Melody Auth Melody Auth is a user friendly, robust solution for implementing and hosting your own OAuth and authentication system. Deploy to Cloudflare using Workers, D1, and KV in just minutes — minimizing infrastructure and DevOps overhead. Self Host with Node.js, Redis, and PostgreSQL — giving you full control over your data and infrastructure. Feature Overview Disclaimer All French translations provided in this project have been generated by AI. Please review them carefully for accuracy before use. What's included? OAuth & Authentication Server [[Setup]]( [[Config]]( Server to Server REST API for backend…
read the full melody-auth overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Better Auth or melody-auth more popular?
Better Auth has 30,579 GitHub stars and melody-auth has 651. Better Auth has the larger community by that measure.
Are Better Auth and melody-auth free?
Both are open source. Better Auth is licensed under MIT and melody-auth under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Better Auth and melody-auth?
Better Auth is written in TypeScript and melody-auth in TypeScript. 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 melody-auth?
Choose Better Auth if you want the larger community (30,579 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose melody-auth if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.