Overview
Better Auth is a revolutionary authentication framework for TypeScript applications that combines comprehensive features with complete user control. Unlike traditional auth services like Auth0 or Clerk that charge per user and lock you into their infrastructure, Better Auth is completely free and open source under the MIT license, enabling you to manage authentication directly on your own database. Built by Bereket Engida and backed by Y Combinator and Peak XV partners, Better Auth has achieved remarkable adoption: 24.8K+ GitHub stars, 706 contributors, and integration into 10.1K+ projects in just months. The framework offers everything needed for modern authentication: email/password login, 30+ social OAuth providers, multi-factor authentication, passkey support, organization and team management, single sign-on (SSO), and OIDC provider capabilities. For solopreneurs and startups, the massive advantage is having full control over user data and authentication logic without ongoing per-seat fees. Better Auth supports all major frameworks (Next.js, Nuxt, Astro, React, Vue, Svelte) with TypeScript-first design ensuring type safety across your entire auth system, eliminating entire categories of bugs at compile time.
Pricing
Open Source (Self-Hosted)
- 100% free and open source
- MIT license
- Self-hosted on your own database
- Email and password authentication
- +16 more features
Managed Infrastructure (In Development)
- All Open Source features
- Hosted infrastructure
- User management dashboard
- Analytics
- +5 more features
Better Auth is completely free and open source under the MIT license. The library itself has no licensing fees. Better Auth also offers an optional infrastructure layer (still in development) for advanced features like user management, analytics, bot and fraud detection, transactional email and SMS, and global session storage.
Best for: Full-stack developers, Next.js developers, Startups, Small to medium businesses, Enterprise teams, Open source advocates, TypeScript enthusiasts, SaaS companies
The Good
- Completely free and open source
- Excellent TypeScript support with full type safety
- Framework-agnostic design
- Fast setup (under 5 minutes)
- Comprehensive feature set
- Active community (5K+ Discord members, 7K+ X followers)
- Well-documented
- Strong backing from Y Combinator and Peak XV
- Self-hosted option
- Plugin ecosystem for extensibility
- No vendor lock-in
The Bad
- Newer project with smaller ecosystem compared to Auth.js
- Company is early-stage (founded 2024)
- Infrastructure layer still in development
- Smaller community than established alternatives
- Limited case studies and long-term production data
- Fewer pre-built integrations than Auth0
Best For
Full-stack developers, Next.js developers, Startups, Small to medium businesses, Enterprise teams, Open source advocates, TypeScript enthusiasts, SaaS companies
Better Auth eliminates vendor lock-in by keeping your authentication data on your own database while providing enterprise-grade features at zero cost, perfect for solopreneurs building the next generation of SaaS. The comprehensive MIT-licensed framework with native TypeScript support and 30+ OAuth providers handles everything from simple email auth to complex multi-tenant systems, letting you build professional applications without subscription costs or external dependencies. Your users' data remains fully under your control, and you can self-host the entire authentication layer.
Key Features
- 01100% free and MIT-licensed open source
- 02Self-hosted authentication on your own database
- 0330+ OAuth providers (Google, GitHub, Discord, etc.)
- 04Native TypeScript with full type safety
- 05Multi-tenant organization and team support
- 06Two-factor authentication and passkey support
Integrations
Use Cases
- Web application authentication
- SaaS platform authentication
- Multi-tenant applications
- Enterprise authentication
- Startup projects
- API authentication
- Mobile app backend authentication
- Internal tool authentication
Alternatives
Auth0
Clerk
WorkOS
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