Better Auth

Better Auth is an open-source, framework-agnostic authentication library for TypeScript that gives you enterprise-grade auth — SSO, passkeys, multi-tenancy, magic links, 2FA — in a single npm package. We rate it 85/100: the strongest free authentication option for TypeScript developers who want full data ownership without the $25/month-per-seat sticker shock of Auth0 or Clerk.

What Is Better Auth?

Better Auth was created by Bereket Engida, a self-taught developer from Ethiopia who started programming at 18. He open-sourced the library in September 2024 and within a year had amassed 27,500+ GitHub stars, 2,400+ forks, and a place in Y Combinator's X25 batch. In June 2025 the company raised a $5 million seed round from Peak XV Partners, Y Combinator, P1 Ventures, and Chapter One — an extraordinary milestone for a developer tooling project that remains MIT-licensed and free.

The core insight behind Better Auth is blunt: existing TypeScript auth solutions force you to either hand your user data to a third-party SaaS (Clerk, Auth0, Stytch) or assemble a patchwork of libraries yourself (NextAuth, Lucia). Better Auth solves both problems — it runs in your own database, ships with an opinionated plugin architecture, and has first-class support for over 20 frameworks including Next.js, Nuxt, SvelteKit, Astro, Hono, and Express.

Key Features of Better Auth

• 50+ Built-in Plugins: Passkeys, 2FA (TOTP), magic links, API keys, JWT sessions, anonymous auth, phone/OTP, and more — all installable in two lines of config. No hunting for separate packages.
• 40+ Social Providers: Google, GitHub, Apple, Discord, Microsoft, Twitter/X, Spotify, and dozens more. Provider tokens are stored in your DB by default, enabling offline refresh without callback loops.
• Organizations & Multi-tenancy: First-class teams, roles, permissions, member invitations, and RBAC — the feature set that forces most teams to pay for Clerk's Team plan ($100+/month) is free in Better Auth.
• Enterprise SSO: SAML 2.0 and SCIM provisioning for B2B SaaS. SCIM was the most-requested missing feature as of early 2026 and has since been added to the roadmap as a community-built plugin.
• Agent Auth: Native MCP server support for authenticating AI agents — a uniquely modern addition that reflects Better Auth's active development pace.
• Full Type Safety: Every config key, plugin option, and session field is fully typed end-to-end. TypeScript autocomplete works out of the box across client and server.
• Database Adapters: Works with any database via adapters for Drizzle, Prisma, Kysely, and MongoDB. MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQLite all supported.

What Users Say About Better Auth

On Hacker News, Better Auth's Launch HN post attracted hundreds of comments. The most praised quality was developer experience: multiple users reported getting a fully functional auth system with email, social login, and sessions running in under 3 hours — versus days with Passport.js or NextAuth. One commenter wrote: "Been using it for the past 2 weeks, love it. Within 24 hours of reporting a vulnerability it was patched" — a response time that impressed the security-conscious developer community.

The recurring complaints are specific and worth knowing: early adopters flagged missing SCIM support as a deal-breaker for enterprise sales (now being addressed), concerns about venture funding creating future lock-in despite the MIT license (the team has committed to remaining free), and no Firebase/Firestore adapter currently available. On Reddit's r/webdev, the most common praise is the plugin system — developers love that adding passkeys or 2FA is a single line of config rather than a weekend of integration work.

Better Auth Pricing

Better Auth the library is completely free and open source under the MIT License with no usage limits, user caps, or features locked behind paid tiers. There is an optional managed cloud dashboard in development (for user management UI and analytics) that will have a paid tier, but the core auth engine will remain free.

Plan	Price	Notes
Open Source	$0 forever	All auth features, unlimited users, self-hosted
Cloud Dashboard (beta)	TBD	Hosted user management UI — optional add-on
Enterprise	Contact	SLA, dedicated support, SCIM provisioning

Who Should Use Better Auth?

Best for: TypeScript-first teams building full-stack web apps with Next.js, SvelteKit, Nuxt, or Astro who want complete data ownership, a generous feature set out of the box, and zero per-seat auth fees. Particularly compelling for B2B SaaS products that need organizations and roles without paying Clerk's $100+/month team pricing.

Not ideal for: Teams on non-TypeScript backends (Ruby on Rails, Django, Laravel), or enterprise buyers who need a fully managed solution with guaranteed uptime SLAs and a vendor support contract. For React Native mobile-first apps, the ecosystem is still maturing. If you rely on Firebase/Firestore as your database, there is no official adapter yet.

Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Completely free — MIT license, no user caps, no per-seat pricing ever
• Setup speed praised across dozens of reviews: "auth in 3 hours" is a common report
• Best-in-class TypeScript types — full autocomplete across client and server
• 50+ plugins covering virtually every modern auth pattern (passkeys, magic links, 2FA, agent auth)
• 27,500+ GitHub stars in ~18 months — strong community signal and active development (v1.5.6, March 2026)
• Recommended by Next.js, Nuxt, and Astro official documentation

Cons:

• SCIM provisioning was missing until recently — enterprise team features are catching up
• No Firebase/Firestore adapter (common in mobile-first stacks)
• Venture-funded: some developers worry MIT license guarantees could shift post-acquisition (no current evidence of this)
• Multi-agent / parallel session edge cases in complex enterprise deployments require manual config

Alternatives to Better Auth

Clerk is the closest managed competitor — polished hosted UI, great DX, but starts at $25/month and your user data lives on their servers. Auth.js (NextAuth) is the incumbent open-source option but requires more assembly, lacks built-in organizations and password auth, and has a less ergonomic plugin model. Supabase Auth is excellent if you're already using Supabase — but ties you to their platform. Better Auth wins on data ownership plus feature completeness for pure TypeScript stacks.

Verdict: Is Better Auth Worth It?

For TypeScript developers, yes — unequivocally. Better Auth is the rare open-source project that covers 90% of what paid auth services offer, ships first-class TypeScript types, and has the momentum (27k+ stars, YC-backed, v1.5.6 in March 2026) to keep improving. The free-forever pricing removes the risk entirely. We rate it 85/100. The 15-point gap is for maturing SCIM/enterprise features and the absence of Firebase support — gaps that will likely close in 2026.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Better Auth free?

Yes. Better Auth is MIT-licensed and completely free to use with no user caps, no feature paywalls, and no per-seat pricing. An optional managed cloud dashboard is in development and will have paid tiers, but the auth engine itself will always be free.

What frameworks does Better Auth support?

Better Auth supports 20+ frameworks out of the box, including Next.js, Nuxt, SvelteKit, Astro, Hono, Express, Fastify, and Remix. Client libraries are available for React, Vue, Svelte, Solid, and vanilla JavaScript.

How does Better Auth compare to Clerk?

Clerk is a managed, hosted service starting at $25/month with a per-MAU model; your user data lives on Clerk's servers. Better Auth is self-hosted, free, and stores data in your own database. Clerk has a more polished pre-built UI; Better Auth gives you more control and costs nothing.

How does Better Auth compare to Auth.js (NextAuth)?

Better Auth ships with built-in email/password auth, organizations, 2FA, and passkeys — features NextAuth requires third-party packages for. Better Auth also has significantly better TypeScript types and a more composable plugin architecture. NextAuth has a larger existing ecosystem and is older.

Is Better Auth open source?

Yes. The full source code is on GitHub at github.com/better-auth/better-auth under the MIT License. It has 27,500+ stars and 473+ contributors as of March 2026.

Does Better Auth support multi-tenancy and organizations?

Yes. Better Auth includes a first-class Organizations plugin with teams, roles, invitations, and fine-grained permissions — comparable to Clerk's Team plan but completely free.