head to head · open source
SuperTokens vs pwd.sh
SuperTokens has 15,315 GitHub stars, 841 forks, 155 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. pwd.sh has 1,563 stars, 136 forks, 0 open issues and last shipped 1 months ago. SuperTokens leads on adoption by 880% (15,315 vs 1,563 stars). SuperTokens is written in Java under a custom or non-standard licence; pwd.sh is written in Shell under MIT. SuperTokens has attracted 5% as many forks as stars, pwd.sh 9%. SuperTokens was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (password), 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
| SuperTokens | pwd.sh | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 15K | ★ 1.6K |
| License | Custom / other | MIT |
| Written in | Java | Shell |
| Last push | 2026-09-21 | 2026-08-24 |
| Forks | ⑂ 841 | ⑂ 136 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick SuperTokens if
- You weight community size — 15K stars and counting
- You want the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- 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 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 →
About pwd.sh
pwd.sh is a Bash script that manages text secrets such as passwords by storing each one in a GnuPG symmetric encrypted file, and it is for people who work in a terminal and prefer to keep their own encrypted store rather than hand it to a hosted password service.
read the full pwd.sh overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is SuperTokens or pwd.sh more popular?
SuperTokens has 15,315 GitHub stars and pwd.sh has 1,563. SuperTokens has the larger community by that measure.
Are SuperTokens and pwd.sh free?
Both are open source. SuperTokens has no licence declared in this registry, and pwd.sh is licensed under MIT. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between SuperTokens and pwd.sh?
SuperTokens is written in Java 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, SuperTokens or pwd.sh?
Choose SuperTokens if you want the larger community (15,315 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose pwd.sh if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.