head to head · open source
SuperTokens vs Authgear
SuperTokens has 15,340 GitHub stars, 788 forks, 155 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Authgear has 2,139 stars, 130 forks, 368 open issues and last shipped yesterday. SuperTokens leads on adoption by 617% (15,340 vs 2,139 stars). SuperTokens is written in Java under a custom or non-standard licence; Authgear is written in Go under Apache-2.0. SuperTokens has attracted 5% as many forks as stars, Authgear 6%. SuperTokens was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 4 topic tags (auth0, authentication, keycloak, login), 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 | Authgear | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 15K | ★ 2.1K |
| License | Custom / other | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Java | Go |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 788 | ⑂ 130 |
| 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 Authgear if
- You want the Authgear feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and Authgear fits your workflow better
About SuperTokens
Open Source auth provider Add secure login and session management to your apps. SDKs available for popular languages and front end frameworks e.g. Node.js, Go, Python, React.js, React Native, Vanilla JS, etc. Supertokens architecture is optimized to add secure authentication for your users without compromising on user and developer experience Three building blocks of SuperTokens architecture 1. Frontend SDK: Manages session tokens and renders login UI widgets 2. Backend SDK: Provides APIs for sign up, sign in, signout, session refreshing, etc. Your Frontend will talk to these APIs 3. SuperTokens Core: The HTTP…
read the full SuperTokens overview →
About Authgear
📘 Docs ☁️ SaaS Cloud ✨ Demo 💬 Discord Authgear: Open source alternative to Auth0 / Clerk / Firebase Auth Authgear is an open source extensible turnkey solution for all of your consumer authentication needs. Authgear gets you started in 5 minutes with developer friendly SDKs and a comprehensive portal. Available for self hosting and on Authgear Cloud. With a wide range of out of the box features, it's perfect for SaaS product and multi apps ecosystem, such as: Passwordless login: Magic link/OTP with Email, SMS, WhatsApp Passkeys Pre built signup/login page Pre built user account settings page Biometric Login on…
read the full Authgear overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is SuperTokens or Authgear more popular?
SuperTokens has 15,340 GitHub stars and Authgear has 2,139. SuperTokens has the larger community by that measure.
Are SuperTokens and Authgear free?
Both are open source. SuperTokens has no licence declared in this registry, and Authgear is licensed under Apache-2.0. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between SuperTokens and Authgear?
SuperTokens is written in Java and Authgear 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, SuperTokens or Authgear?
Choose SuperTokens if you want the larger community (15,340 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose Authgear if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.