head to head · open source
Better Auth vs Sa-Token
Better Auth has 30,000 GitHub stars, 2,893 forks, 723 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Sa-Token has 19,048 stars, 2,914 forks, 111 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Better Auth leads on adoption by 57% (30,000 vs 19,048 stars). Better Auth is written in TypeScript under MIT; Sa-Token is written in Java under Apache-2.0. Better Auth has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, Sa-Token 15%. Sa-Token was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (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 | Sa-Token | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 30K | ★ 19K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Java |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.9K | ⑂ 2.9K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Better Auth if
- You weight community size — 30K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Sa-Token if
- You want the Sa-Token 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 Sa-Token fits your workflow better
About Better Auth
Better Auth is a framework agnostic authentication and authorization framework written in TypeScript. It targets the broader JavaScript/TypeScript ecosystem and is designed to integrate with any backend or frontend framework, including Next.js, Express, SvelteKit, and others. It provides a unified API surface for core identity workflows such as sign up, sign in, session management, and passwordless flows.
read the full Better Auth overview →
About Sa-Token
Sa Token is a free, open source, one stop Java authentication and authorization framework, licensed under Apache 2.0, that gives Java and Spring Boot developers login authentication, permission checks, distributed sessions, single sign on, OAuth2.0, gateway authentication, JWT integration, API key authorization and API parameter signing from a single dependency.
read the full Sa-Token overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Better Auth or Sa-Token more popular?
Better Auth has 30,000 GitHub stars and Sa-Token has 19,048. Better Auth has the larger community by that measure.
Are Better Auth and Sa-Token free?
Both are open source. Better Auth is licensed under MIT and Sa-Token under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Better Auth and Sa-Token?
Better Auth is written in TypeScript and Sa-Token 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 Sa-Token?
Choose Better Auth if you want the larger community (30,000 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Sa-Token if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.