head to head · open source
Better Auth vs SuperTokens
Better Auth has 29,988 GitHub stars, 2,894 forks, 723 open issues and last shipped yesterday. SuperTokens has 15,310 stars, 841 forks, 155 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. Better Auth leads on adoption by 96% (29,988 vs 15,310 stars). Better Auth is written in TypeScript under MIT; SuperTokens is written in Java under a custom or non-standard licence. Better Auth has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, SuperTokens 5%. 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 (authentication, oauth), 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 | SuperTokens | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 30K | ★ 15K |
| License | MIT | Custom / other |
| Written in | TypeScript | Java |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-14 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.9K | ⑂ 841 |
| 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 SuperTokens if
- You want the SuperTokens feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You evaluated both and SuperTokens 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 SuperTokens
SuperTokens is an open source authentication and session management platform for applications that need login, sign up, sign out, and user data control. It sits in the identity and access management ecosystem and is described as an alternative to Auth0, Firebase Auth, and AWS Cognito. It separates work into a frontend SDK, a backend SDK, and a Java based SuperTokens Core service that handles authentication logic and database operations.
read the full SuperTokens overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Better Auth or SuperTokens more popular?
Better Auth has 29,988 GitHub stars and SuperTokens has 15,310. Better Auth has the larger community by that measure.
Are Better Auth and SuperTokens free?
Both are open source. Better Auth is licensed under MIT, and SuperTokens has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Better Auth and SuperTokens?
Better Auth is written in TypeScript and SuperTokens 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 SuperTokens?
Choose Better Auth if you want the larger community (29,988 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose SuperTokens if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.