head to head · open source
Better Auth vs slink
Better Auth has 30,133 GitHub stars, 2,935 forks, 723 open issues and last shipped yesterday. slink has 1,592 stars, 48 forks, 18 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. Better Auth leads on adoption by 1,793% (30,133 vs 1,592 stars). Better Auth is written in TypeScript under MIT; slink is written in PHP under AGPL-3.0. Better Auth has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, slink 3%. Better Auth was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (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 | slink | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 30K | ★ 1.6K |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | PHP |
| Last push | 2026-09-30 | 2026-09-27 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.9K | ⑂ 48 |
| 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 slink if
- You want the slink feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches PHP
- You evaluated both and slink 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 slink
Slink is a self hosted image hosting and sharing platform — an AGPL 3.0 licensed Imgur alternative built with Symfony and SvelteKit — for homelab operators, developers, artists and teams who want private links, collections, screenshot uploads and optional single sign on under their own control.
read the full slink overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Better Auth or slink more popular?
Better Auth has 30,133 GitHub stars and slink has 1,592. Better Auth has the larger community by that measure.
Are Better Auth and slink free?
Both are open source. Better Auth is licensed under MIT and slink under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Better Auth and slink?
Better Auth is written in TypeScript and slink in PHP. 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 slink?
Choose Better Auth if you want the larger community (30,133 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose slink if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.