head to head · open source
Better Auth vs Permify
Better Auth has 30,553 GitHub stars, 3,052 forks, 723 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Permify has 5,968 stars, 329 forks, 75 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Better Auth leads on adoption by 412% (30,553 vs 5,968 stars). Better Auth is written in TypeScript under MIT; Permify is written in Go under AGPL-3.0. Better Auth has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, Permify 6%. Permify was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
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 | Permify | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 31K | ★ 6.0K |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Go |
| Last push | 2026-11-01 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.1K | ⑂ 329 |
| 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 Permify if
- You want the Permify feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and Permify 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 Permify
Exciting news: Permify has been acquired by FusionAuth! 🎉 Permify Blog Post Official Press Release FusionAuth Blog Post Permify Open Source Fine Grained Authorization Implement fine grained, scalable and extensible access controls within minutes to days instead of months. Inspired by Google’s consistent, global authorization system, Zanzibar What is Permify? Permify is an open source authorization service for easily building and managing fine grained, scalable, and extensible access controls for your applications and services. Inspired by Google’s consistent, global authorization system, Google Zanzibar Our…
read the full Permify overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Better Auth or Permify more popular?
Better Auth has 30,553 GitHub stars and Permify has 5,968. Better Auth has the larger community by that measure.
Are Better Auth and Permify free?
Both are open source. Better Auth is licensed under MIT and Permify under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Better Auth and Permify?
Better Auth is written in TypeScript and Permify 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 Permify?
Choose Better Auth if you want the larger community (30,553 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Permify if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.