head to head · open source
SuperTokens vs tinyauth
SuperTokens has 15,316 GitHub stars, 842 forks, 155 open issues and last shipped yesterday. tinyauth has 8,277 stars, 273 forks, 41 open issues and last shipped today. SuperTokens leads on adoption by 85% (15,316 vs 8,277 stars). SuperTokens is written in Java under a custom or non-standard licence; tinyauth is written in Go under AGPL-3.0. SuperTokens has attracted 5% as many forks as stars, tinyauth 3%. tinyauth was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (authentication), 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 | tinyauth | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 15K | ★ 8.3K |
| License | Custom / other | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Java | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-21 | 2026-09-22 |
| Forks | ⑂ 842 | ⑂ 273 |
| 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 tinyauth if
- You want the tinyauth feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and tinyauth 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 tinyauth
Tinyauth is a small Go authentication and authorization server that runs either as authentication middleware in front of self hosted applications or as a standalone authentication server, and it is aimed at self hosters and homelab operators who want OpenID Certified™ single sign on without deploying a large identity platform.
read the full tinyauth overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is SuperTokens or tinyauth more popular?
SuperTokens has 15,316 GitHub stars and tinyauth has 8,277. SuperTokens has the larger community by that measure.
Are SuperTokens and tinyauth free?
Both are open source. SuperTokens has no licence declared in this registry, and tinyauth is licensed under AGPL-3.0. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between SuperTokens and tinyauth?
SuperTokens is written in Java and tinyauth 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 tinyauth?
Choose SuperTokens if you want the larger community (15,316 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose tinyauth if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.