head to head · open source
Better Auth vs oauth2-proxy
Better Auth has 30,553 GitHub stars, 3,052 forks, 723 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. oauth2-proxy has 15,313 stars, 2,258 forks, 285 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. Better Auth leads on adoption by 100% (30,553 vs 15,313 stars). Better Auth is written in TypeScript under MIT; oauth2-proxy is written in Go under MIT. Better Auth has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, oauth2-proxy 15%. oauth2-proxy was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 3 topic tags (oauth2, oidc, sso), 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 | oauth2-proxy | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 31K | ★ 15K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | Go |
| Last push | 2026-11-01 | 2026-11-01 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.1K | ⑂ 2.3K |
| 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 oauth2-proxy if
- You want the oauth2-proxy feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and oauth2-proxy 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 oauth2-proxy
OAuth2 Proxy is a flexible, open source tool that can act as either a standalone reverse proxy or a middleware component integrated into existing reverse proxy or load balancer setups. It provides a simple and secure way to protect your web applications with OAuth2 / OIDC authentication. As a reverse proxy, it intercepts requests to your application and redirects users to an OAuth2 provider for authentication. As a middleware, it can be seamlessly integrated into your existing infrastructure to handle authentication for multiple applications. OAuth2 Proxy supports a lot of OAuth2 as well as OIDC providers…
read the full oauth2-proxy overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Better Auth or oauth2-proxy more popular?
Better Auth has 30,553 GitHub stars and oauth2-proxy has 15,313. Better Auth has the larger community by that measure.
Are Better Auth and oauth2-proxy free?
Both are open source. Better Auth is licensed under MIT and oauth2-proxy under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Better Auth and oauth2-proxy?
Better Auth is written in TypeScript and oauth2-proxy in Go. 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 oauth2-proxy?
Choose Better Auth if you want the larger community (30,553 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose oauth2-proxy if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.