head to head · open source
Better Auth vs xxl-sso
Better Auth has 30,722 GitHub stars, 3,072 forks, 723 open issues and last shipped yesterday. xxl-sso has 2,010 stars, 829 forks, 2 open issues and last shipped 1 months ago. Better Auth leads on adoption by 1,428% (30,722 vs 2,010 stars). Better Auth is written in TypeScript under MIT; xxl-sso is written in Java under GPL-3.0. Better Auth has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, xxl-sso 41%. 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, 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 | xxl-sso | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 31K | ★ 2.0K |
| License | MIT | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Java |
| Last push | 2026-11-12 | 2026-10-13 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.1K | ⑂ 829 |
| 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 xxl-sso if
- You want the xxl-sso feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You evaluated both and xxl-sso 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 xxl-sso
XXL SSO XXL SSO, A Distributed Single Sign On Framework. Home Page Introduction XXL SSO is a single sign on framework that allows you to access all trusted applications with just one login. It has "lightweight, highly scalable, progressive" and other features, supports "login authentication, permissions (role) authentication, distributed session authentication, single sign on, Web login, Native(front end separation) login" and other multi login and authentication types. Now, it's already open source code, real "out of the box". XXL SSO 是一个 单点登录框架，只需要登录一次就可以访问所有相互信任的应用系统。具备 “轻量级、高扩展、渐进式” 的等特性，支持…
read the full xxl-sso overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Better Auth or xxl-sso more popular?
Better Auth has 30,722 GitHub stars and xxl-sso has 2,010. Better Auth has the larger community by that measure.
Are Better Auth and xxl-sso free?
Both are open source. Better Auth is licensed under MIT and xxl-sso under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Better Auth and xxl-sso?
Better Auth is written in TypeScript and xxl-sso 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 xxl-sso?
Choose Better Auth if you want the larger community (30,722 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose xxl-sso if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.