head to head · open source
Hexclave vs webauthn4j
Hexclave has 6,862 GitHub stars, 522 forks, 65 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. webauthn4j has 593 stars, 99 forks, 16 open issues and last shipped 23 days ago. Hexclave leads on adoption by 1,057% (6,862 vs 593 stars). Hexclave is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence; webauthn4j is written in Java under Apache-2.0. Hexclave has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, webauthn4j 17%. Hexclave was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (authentication, passkeys), 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.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| Hexclave | webauthn4j | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 6.9K | ★ 593 |
| License | Custom / other | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Java |
| Last push | 2026-09-23 | 2026-09-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 522 | ⑂ 99 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Hexclave if
- You weight community size — 6.9K stars and counting
- You want the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick webauthn4j if
- You want the webauthn4j 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 webauthn4j fits your workflow better
About Hexclave
Hexclave is an open source user infrastructure platform written in TypeScript and distributed under a license the repository metadata lists as NOASSERTION, while the README badge states MIT / AGPLv3. It describes itself as handling everything around a product's users: authentication, teams, payments, emails, analytics, and more. The project lives in the JavaScript and TypeScript ecosystem, shipping SDKs for Next.js, React, and plain JavaScript, and it is positioned against hosted identity and user management services such as Auth0 and Clerk, both of which appear in its topic list.
read the full Hexclave overview →
About webauthn4j
WebAuthn4J is a portable, Apache 2.0 licensed Java library that performs server side verification of WebAuthn and passkey ceremonies, aimed at Java and Kotlin teams that need to add FIDO2 relying party support to an existing application or identity platform.
read the full webauthn4j overview →
More in Security & Privacy
Related comparisons
More Identity & Access Management (IAM) projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Identity & Access Management (IAM) field.
Frequently asked questions
Is Hexclave or webauthn4j more popular?
Hexclave has 6,862 GitHub stars and webauthn4j has 593. Hexclave has the larger community by that measure.
Are Hexclave and webauthn4j free?
Both are open source. Hexclave has no licence declared in this registry, and webauthn4j is licensed under Apache-2.0. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Hexclave and webauthn4j?
Hexclave is written in TypeScript and webauthn4j 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, Hexclave or webauthn4j?
Choose Hexclave if you want the larger community (6,862 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose webauthn4j if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.