head to head · open source
Better Auth vs tinyauth
Better Auth has 30,029 GitHub stars, 2,897 forks, 723 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. tinyauth has 8,271 stars, 272 forks, 41 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Better Auth leads on adoption by 263% (30,029 vs 8,271 stars). Better Auth is written in TypeScript under MIT; tinyauth is written in Go under AGPL-3.0. Better Auth has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, tinyauth 3%. tinyauth was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 3 topic tags (authentication, 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 | tinyauth | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 30K | ★ 8.3K |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-20 | 2026-09-21 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.9K | ⑂ 272 |
| 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 tinyauth if
- You want the tinyauth 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 tinyauth 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 tinyauth
Tinyauth is a small Go authentication and authorization server that runs either as authentication middleware in front of self hosted applications or as a standalone authentication server, and it is aimed at self hosters and homelab operators who want OpenID Certified™ single sign on without deploying a large identity platform.
read the full tinyauth overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Better Auth or tinyauth more popular?
Better Auth has 30,029 GitHub stars and tinyauth has 8,271. Better Auth has the larger community by that measure.
Are Better Auth and tinyauth free?
Both are open source. Better Auth is licensed under MIT and tinyauth under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Better Auth and tinyauth?
Better Auth is written in TypeScript and tinyauth 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 tinyauth?
Choose Better Auth if you want the larger community (30,029 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose tinyauth if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.