Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Auth.js VS Refine

Compare Auth.js VS Refine and see what are their differences

Auth.js logo Auth.js

Authentication for the Web.

Refine logo Refine

A React Framework for building internal tools, admin panels, dashboards & B2B apps with unmatched flexibilty.
  • Auth.js Landing page
    Landing page //
    2024-05-30
  • Refine Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-11-18

Refine is a meta React framework that enables the rapid development of a wide range of web applications. From internal tools, admin panels, B2B apps and dashboards, it serves as a comprehensive solution for building any type of CRUD applications.

It's internal hooks and components simplifies the development process and eliminates the repetitive tasks by providing industry-standard solutions for crucial aspects of a project, including authentication, access control, routing, networking, state management, and i18n.

Refine is headless by design and offers unlimited styling and customization possibilities, empowering developers to create tailored and fully functional applications that meet specific project requirements.

Refine

Website
refine.dev
$ Details
Platforms
Web Browser React Native Remix Electron NextJS ReactJS
Release Date
2021 September

Auth.js features and specs

  • Ease of Integration
    Auth.js is designed to be easily integrable into modern web applications, allowing developers to quickly add authentication features without significant overhead.
  • Extensive Provider Support
    The library supports a wide range of authentication providers and strategies, making it flexible for various use cases.
  • Open Source
    Being open source, Auth.js allows developers to inspect, contribute to, and customize the code to suit their needs.
  • Community and Documentation
    Auth.js has a supportive community and well-maintained documentation, which can help developers troubleshoot issues and learn to use the library effectively.
  • Security Best Practices
    The library follows modern security best practices, ensuring that authentication processes are protected against common vulnerabilities.

Possible disadvantages of Auth.js

  • Dependency Management
    Relying on third-party libraries like Auth.js can introduce dependency management challenges, especially with updates and security patches.
  • Abstraction Complexity
    While the abstraction provided by Auth.js simplifies implementation, it may reduce the flexibility for developers who need low-level access to customize authentication processes deeply.
  • Learning Curve
    For developers unfamiliar with authentication concepts or modern JavaScript frameworks, there may be a learning curve to effectively utilize Auth.js.
  • Performance Overhead
    Integrating an additional library like Auth.js may introduce some performance overhead, which could be a concern for applications with stringent performance requirements.
  • Limited Offline Support
    Auth.js is primarily designed for online authentication flows, which may not be ideal for applications requiring robust offline support.

Refine features and specs

  • Backend Agnostic
  • Decoupled UI
  • Native Typescript Core
  • Powerful Default UI
  • Routing
  • Authentication
  • Rest API Integration
  • GraphQL API Integration
  • Developer tools
  • SSR Support

Analysis of Refine

Overall verdict

  • Refine is a robust and efficient framework that is well-suited for developers looking to build scalable web applications. Its flexibility and ease of use make it a strong choice for many projects, particularly those with complex requirements.

Why this product is good

  • Refine (refine.dev) is considered a good tool due to its powerful capabilities for developing and managing enterprise-scale web applications. It provides a highly customizable and modular architecture, which allows developers to integrate different services and libraries seamlessly. With its intuitive design, it enhances productivity and simplifies complex tasks, making repetitive tasks easier to automate. The active community and extensive documentation also support developers in overcoming challenges and implementing best practices.

Recommended for

  • Developers working on enterprise-scale applications
  • Teams requiring a modular and customizable framework
  • Projects that demand seamless integrations with existing services
  • Developers seeking a productivity-boosting tool with strong community support

Auth.js videos

Clerk vs Next-Auth.js | It's not that simple...

Refine videos

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Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Auth.js and Refine)
Developer Tools
22 22%
78% 78
Authentication
100 100%
0% 0
Open Source
0 0%
100% 100
Identity Provider
100 100%
0% 0

Questions and Answers

As answered by people managing Auth.js and Refine.

What makes your product unique?

Refine's answer:

Refine's unparalleled flexibility with data providers makes it a unique choice. Whether you're integrating with REST, GraphQL, or any other data source, Refine streamlines the process.

Another defining feature is its built-in UI integrations. This means you can create polished and responsive user interfaces with ease. Plus, with a thriving community and extensive developer support, you're never alone when using Refine.

Refine simplifies data management and CRUD operations, allowing you to focus on building your application's core functionality. Its robust security features and authentication support ensure your data is protected.

What truly sets Refine apart is its headless architecture. This design philosophy empowers you to customize every aspect of your application, giving you complete control over its look and feel.

Real-time capabilities are another standout feature. This means you can easily incorporate live updates and collaboration features into your apps.

With comprehensive documentation and tutorials, getting started and mastering Refine is a straightforward process. The active open-source community ensures regular updates and improvements.

Refine is suitable for projects of enterprise-level solutions. Its scalability makes it a versatile choice for developers and organizations alike.

Why should a person choose your product over its competitors?

Refine's answer:

It provides a headless architecture, giving developers complete freedom to customize the frontend using any UI library or framework, which is not always the case with other solutions.

Secondly, Refine's data provider support is extensive, with a wide range of options, making it easier to integrate with various backends. Additionally, it has a rapidly growing community and extensive documentation, ensuring excellent support and resources for users. The real-time features, along with built-in UI integration for popular libraries, simplify complex tasks.

Refine is backed by an active development team that regularly releases updates and improvements. In summary, Refine offers flexibility, comprehensive support, and a strong community, making it a compelling choice in the competitive landscape of web application development frameworks.

How would you describe your primary audience?

Refine's answer:

Refine's primary audience consists of developers and teams who are focused on building Enterprise web applications, particularly those in need of admin panels, internal tools, or dashboards. Refine can be use for any type of CRUD apps.

These developers typically have a background in Typescript and React and are looking for a framework that provides flexibility, extensibility, and efficiency in building data-centric applications.

Refine is popular among enterprises and businesses that require scalable and maintainable solutions for their data management needs.

User comments

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Social recommendations and mentions

Refine might be a bit more popular than Auth.js. We know about 39 links to it since March 2021 and only 27 links to Auth.js. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Auth.js mentions (27)

  • Top 5 Open Source Identity and Access Management (IAM) providers 2025
    Home page | GitHub Repo | Documentation | Discord community. - Source: dev.to / 6 months ago
  • Next.js and Next-Auth V5: Guide to Social Logins(OAuth)
    Auth.js is an open-source authentication library that integrates with modern JavaScript frameworks like Next.js, Svelte, and Express. Previously the project was available only for Next.js and thus it used to be called Next-Auth. Today, a portion of Auth.js is still supports Next-Auth, but along with it, there are SvelteKitAuth, and ExpressAuth available too. - Source: dev.to / 8 months ago
  • Real-Time Authorization in a Chat Application with Permit.io and WebSockets
    Weโ€™ll be using Auth.js, an authentication library originally built for Next.js. Run the following command to install the package:. - Source: dev.to / 8 months ago
  • Simple Next.js Magic Link JWT Authentication with Prisma, PostgreSQL, and Resend
    When building web applications, authentication is almost always a core requirement. I needed something simple and secure that would let me get started quickly on new projects without over-complicating the setup. My goal was to have a solution that's easy to implement, handles email verification out of the box, and just works. In this post, I'm sharing how to build a straightforward magic link authentication system... - Source: dev.to / 12 months ago
  • Building a Personal Finance App with Arcjet
    This article will serve as a guide on how to create a simple finance management app using Arcjet, Next.js, Auth.js, Prisma, SQLite, and Tailwind CSS. Building a personal finance management app with modern web development skills, practical functionality, and robust security helps drive home the point of how effective it can be to incorporate these features. Our application will be proof of concept, so there will be... - Source: dev.to / about 1 year ago
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Refine mentions (39)

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What are some alternatives?

When comparing Auth.js and Refine, you can also consider the following products

Next.js - A small framework for server-rendered universal JavaScript apps

ToolJet - Open-source alternative for Retool

Auth0 - Auth0 is a program for people to get authentication and authorization services for their own business use.

Appsmith - Appsmith is an open source web framework for building internal tools, admin panels, dashboards, and workflows.

Supabase - An open source Firebase alternative

PocketBlocks - In PocketBlocks, all you need to do is drag and drop pre-built or self-customized components onto the What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get (WYSIWYG) canvas to make an app, PocketBlocks helps you build an app quickly and focus on the business logic.