head to head · open source
SuperTokens vs Hexclave
SuperTokens has 15,310 GitHub stars, 841 forks, 155 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. Hexclave has 6,861 stars, 522 forks, 65 open issues and last shipped yesterday. SuperTokens leads on adoption by 123% (15,310 vs 6,861 stars). SuperTokens is written in Java under a custom or non-standard licence; Hexclave is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence. SuperTokens has attracted 5% as many forks as stars, Hexclave 8%. Hexclave was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 3 topic tags (auth0, authentication, oauth), 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 | Hexclave | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 15K | ★ 6.9K |
| License | Custom / other | Custom / other |
| Written in | Java | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-14 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 841 | ⑂ 522 |
| 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 Hexclave if
- You want the Hexclave feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Hexclave 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 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 →
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Frequently asked questions
Is SuperTokens or Hexclave more popular?
SuperTokens has 15,310 GitHub stars and Hexclave has 6,861. SuperTokens has the larger community by that measure.
Are SuperTokens and Hexclave free?
Neither SuperTokens nor Hexclave declares a licence in this registry, so check each project's own repository before relying on either for a commercial use. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between SuperTokens and Hexclave?
SuperTokens is written in Java and Hexclave in TypeScript. 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 Hexclave?
Choose SuperTokens if you want the larger community (15,310 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose Hexclave if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.