head to head · open source
SuperTokens vs Ory
SuperTokens has 15,340 GitHub stars, 788 forks, 155 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Ory has 13,950 stars, 1,212 forks, 224 open issues and last shipped 3 months ago. SuperTokens leads on adoption by 10% (15,340 vs 13,950 stars). SuperTokens is written in Java under a custom or non-standard licence; Ory is written in Go under Apache-2.0. SuperTokens has attracted 5% as many forks as stars, Ory 9%. SuperTokens was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (hacktoberfest, 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 | Ory | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 15K | ★ 14K |
| License | Custom / other | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Java | Go |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-07-29 |
| Forks | ⑂ 788 | ⑂ 1.2K |
| 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 Ory if
- You want the Ory 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 Ory 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 Ory
Chat · Discussions · Newsletter · Docs · Try Ory Network · Jobs Ory Kratos is an API first identity and user management system for cloud native applications. It centralizes login, registration, recovery, verification, and profile management flows so your services consume them instead of reimplementing them. Table of contents What is Ory Kratos? Why Ory Kratos Migrating from Auth0, Okta, and similar providers Deployment options Use Ory Kratos on the Ory Network Self host Ory Kratos Quickstart Who is using it? What is Ory Kratos? Ory Kratos is an API first identity and user management system that follows cloud…
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Frequently asked questions
Is SuperTokens or Ory more popular?
SuperTokens has 15,340 GitHub stars and Ory has 13,950. SuperTokens has the larger community by that measure.
Are SuperTokens and Ory free?
Both are open source. SuperTokens has no licence declared in this registry, and Ory is licensed under Apache-2.0. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between SuperTokens and Ory?
SuperTokens is written in Java and Ory 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 Ory?
Choose SuperTokens if you want the larger community (15,340 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose Ory if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.