head to head · open source
Better Auth vs pwd.sh
Better Auth has 30,631 GitHub stars, 3,066 forks, 723 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. pwd.sh has 1,564 stars, 132 forks, 0 open issues and last shipped 20 days ago. Better Auth leads on adoption by 1,859% (30,631 vs 1,564 stars). Better Auth is written in TypeScript under MIT; pwd.sh is written in Shell under MIT. Better Auth has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, pwd.sh 8%. Better Auth was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
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 | pwd.sh | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 31K | ★ 1.6K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | Shell |
| Last push | 2026-11-06 | 2026-10-19 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.1K | ⑂ 132 |
| 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 pwd.sh if
- You want the pwd.sh feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Shell
- You evaluated both and pwd.sh 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 pwd.sh
pwd.sh is a Bash script to manage text secrets, such as passwords, using GnuPG. Each secret is saved to a randomly named file in a directory. An encrypted index maps usernames to secrets contained in files. Both the index and files can be decrypted directly with GnuPG without pwd.sh. Install Download from Releases, or to use the latest version, clone the repository: Or download the script directly: Use Run the script interactively using ./pwd.sh or symlink to a directory in PATH : w write (create) a secret r read (access) a secret l list secret names and paths s generate a random secret u generate a random…
read the full pwd.sh overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Better Auth or pwd.sh more popular?
Better Auth has 30,631 GitHub stars and pwd.sh has 1,564. Better Auth has the larger community by that measure.
Are Better Auth and pwd.sh free?
Both are open source. Better Auth is licensed under MIT and pwd.sh under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Better Auth and pwd.sh?
Better Auth is written in TypeScript and pwd.sh in Shell. 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 pwd.sh?
Choose Better Auth if you want the larger community (30,631 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose pwd.sh if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.