Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Auth.js VS WorkOS

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

Auth.js logo Auth.js

Authentication for the Web.

WorkOS logo WorkOS

Application and Data, Application Utilities, and User Management and Authentication
  • Auth.js Landing page
    Landing page //
    2024-05-30
  • WorkOS Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-30

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.

WorkOS features and specs

  • Easy Integration
    WorkOS provides straightforward integration for developers with well-documented APIs and SDKs, allowing organizations to incorporate enterprise-ready features into their applications quickly.
  • Security and Compliance
    It offers built-in security and compliance features such as single sign-on (SSO), directory sync, and audit logs, helping businesses meet regulatory requirements with ease.
  • Scalability
    WorkOS is designed to scale with your business, providing the flexibility to add more users and features as your application grows.
  • Time Efficiency
    By providing pre-built solutions for complex enterprise functions, WorkOS saves developers time and resources they would spend building these features from scratch.
  • Broad Compatibility
    The platform supports a wide range of identity providers, making it compatible with many different enterprise environments.

Possible disadvantages of WorkOS

  • Cost
    While WorkOS offers a lot of features, the associated costs might be high for startups and small businesses.
  • Dependency on Third-party
    Relying on WorkOS for critical components means entrusting a third-party service, which can lead to challenges if service outages or changes occur.
  • Complexity for Smaller Use Cases
    For companies with simpler access management needs, the comprehensive features provided by WorkOS might be more than necessary, leading to potential over-engineering.
  • Learning Curve
    Despite robust documentation, there might be a learning curve for developers unfamiliar with integrating third-party enterprise solutions.
  • Potential Vendor Lock-in
    As with any third-party service, there can be concerns about vendor lock-in, making it difficult to switch providers once integrated deeply.

Auth.js videos

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

WorkOS videos

Add SSO to your Next.js app using WorkOS in 7 minutes

More videos:

  • Review - Introducing Admin Portal (by WorkOS)

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Auth.js and WorkOS)
Developer Tools
29 29%
71% 71
Authentication
100 100%
0% 0
Identity Provider
17 17%
83% 83
Security & Privacy
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Auth.js and WorkOS

Auth.js Reviews

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WorkOS Reviews

Top 10 Best SAML Identity Providers List for SSO (Pros and Cons)
Just launched in 2018, and WorkOS is already well liked by many enterprises and IT developers. The all in one solution boasts Enterprise SSO and supports all OIDC and SAML providers right out of the box.

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Auth.js should be more popular than WorkOS. It has been mentiond 27 times since March 2021. 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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WorkOS mentions (16)

  • The SSO Wall of Shame โ€“ Vendors that treat SSO as luxury feature
    I started a startup to fix this exact problem integrating and configuring SSO/SAML.[0] We launched here on HN 5 years ago[1] and today power SSO for OpenAI, Cursor, Vercel, and a thousand other apps. We also found the initial configuration step to be painful for users, so we built a self-serve wizard that enables enterprise admins to fix issues.[2] It's still crazy how much complexity there is with enterprise... - Source: Hacker News / about 1 month ago
  • The deceptive simplicity of auth
    Services like Auth0, Kinde, WorkOS (and other identity platforms) are fantastic at handling the authentication piece, verifying your users and issuing these tokens. They can also provide information about user roles or permissions to help with authorization. They give you the tokens and the tools. - Source: dev.to / about 1 month ago
  • Where to find ideas โ€“ by Rob Snyder
    B2B is much easier today if you use WorkOS. Iโ€™m the founder and happy to help. Weโ€™re built for developers and even launched on HN! http://workos.com. - Source: Hacker News / about 2 months ago
  • Ask HN: What Are You Working On? (June 2025)
    For SSO, RBAC, etc, check out https://workos.com Iโ€™m the founder :) Happy to help! - Source: Hacker News / 3 months ago
  • What is SCIM Provisioning: In-Depth Guide [2024]
    WorkOS aims to provide enterprise-grade identity management solutions for your app to help you ship without needing extensive resources or time. It includes a Directory Sync to help you 'build a frictionless user provisioning and deprovisioning workflow for your organization.'. - Source: dev.to / 11 months ago
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What are some alternatives?

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

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

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

Descope - Drag-and-drop authentication for your app

Supabase - An open source Firebase alternative

Scalekit - Unlock the power of secure SaaS with our top-tier Authentication Platform - and get effortless Single Sign-On, Magic Links and MFA out of the box.

Simple OTP - Simple passwordless authentication for your website. Source code included.