Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Google Authenticator VS SuperTokens

Compare Google Authenticator VS SuperTokens and see what are their differences

Note: These products don't have any matching categories. If you think this is a mistake, please edit the details of one of the products and suggest appropriate categories.

Google Authenticator logo Google Authenticator

Google Authenticator is a multifactor app for mobile devices.

SuperTokens logo SuperTokens

Open Source User Authentication - An Alternative to Auth0 / Firebase Auth / AWS Cognito
  • Google Authenticator Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-03-25
  • SuperTokens Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-03-26

SuperTokens is building open source authentication (as an alternative to Auth0, Firebase and AWS Cognito). Add secure, hassle free authentication to your app in 1 day. We enable startups to launch quicker and focus on their core product offering

  1. We're easier to implement as we take a modular approach - making it possible to pick only the features you need for your use case. This means you need not worry about complications associated with other features (eg: SSO and OAuth if you don’t need it) and this in turn makes it easier to implement and manage SuperTokens.
  2. Developer's can own and manage their user's data.
  3. SuperTokens can be run on your premise for free and also has a generous hosted tier for those who dont want to manage it themselves.

SuperTokens is being used by hundreds of developers across the globe.

Google Authenticator features and specs

  • Enhanced Security
    Google Authenticator adds an extra layer of security by requiring a second factor of authentication, reducing the risk of unauthorized access even if your password is compromised.
  • Offline Access
    The app does not require an internet connection to generate codes, making it reliable in situations where connectivity is a concern.
  • Compatibility
    Google Authenticator is compatible with a wide range of services and accounts, providing a versatile solution for multi-factor authentication (MFA).
  • Free of Charge
    The application is free to use, offering robust security features without any financial investment.
  • Ease of Use
    Setup and usage are straightforward, making it accessible to users without technical expertise.

Possible disadvantages of Google Authenticator

  • Device Dependence
    If you lose your device, gaining access to your accounts can become challenging, particularly if you haven't backed up or used alternative methods.
  • No Cloud Sync
    Google Authenticator does not offer a built-in feature for cloud backups, making it difficult to transfer codes to a new device.
  • Single Device Limitation
    The app only works on a single device at a time, which can be inconvenient if you manage multiple devices.
  • No Biometric Lock
    The app lacks advanced security features such as biometric locks, which are present in some other authenticator apps.
  • Limited Recovery Options
    In case of losing access to the app, recovery options rely heavily on the user having access to backup codes, which might not always be accessible.

SuperTokens features and specs

  • Ease of Integration
    SuperTokens is designed to be developer-friendly, providing easy-to-follow documentation and straightforward integration steps for adding authentication and authorization functionalities to applications.
  • Open Source
    Being open source, SuperTokens allows for transparency, peer reviews, and community-driven improvements, providing an advantage over proprietary solutions.
  • Feature-Rich
    It offers a wide range of features including session management, JWT support, email/password login, social login, and passwordless authentication, catering to various authentication needs.
  • Scalability
    SuperTokens is built to scale, making it suitable for both small applications and large-scale enterprises with significant user bases.
  • Security
    Emphasizes security best practices, providing robust mechanisms for session handling, token storage, and data encryption to ensure user information is safeguarded.

Possible disadvantages of SuperTokens

  • Complexity for Advanced Customization
    While it is easy to integrate, performing advanced customizations may require a deeper understanding of its internal workings, which can be time-consuming.
  • Dependency on Third-Party Infrastructure
    For some setups, SuperTokens may impose dependencies on third-party services or infrastructure, potentially leading to issues related to uptime, latency, and control.
  • Limited Community Support
    As a relatively newer player in the market, it might not have as extensive a community or ecosystem as some older, more established authentication solutions.
  • Data Privacy Concerns
    Although the solution emphasizes security, using any third-party service for authentication introduces some level of concern regarding data privacy, especially if sensitive user data is involved.
  • Initial Learning Curve
    Despite its ease of integration, there is still a learning curve associated with initially understanding how to best implement and use the various features offered by SuperTokens.

Google Authenticator videos

How to Use Google Authenticator

More videos:

  • Review - GOOGLE AUTHENTICATOR vs. AUTHY - (AUTHY WON)

SuperTokens videos

How SuperTokens detects Session Hijacking?

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Google Authenticator and SuperTokens)
Identity And Access Management
Developer Tools
0 0%
100% 100
Two Factor Authentication
Cyber Security
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

Share your experience with using Google Authenticator and SuperTokens. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
Log in or Post with

Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Google Authenticator and SuperTokens

Google Authenticator Reviews

7 Best Google Authenticator Alternatives For Android And iOS
Except for one, all the apps mentioned above are available for Android and iPhone. You can add accounts which you want to secure by scanning their barcode or simply entering the secret key or id in all of them. Some of them will let you capture a screenshot and some of them will not. Apart from that, all these are free to use and provide better features making them as the...
The Best Authenticator Apps for 2023
When you use Google Authenticator to log in to your Google account, you enter the six-digit code shown in the authenticator app, just as you would to log in to any other service. The app also lets you import logins from an old phone to a new one if you have the former on hand. As with Microsoft Authenticator, there's no Apple Watch app or even an Android Wear app for Google...
Source: www.pcmag.com
Top 6 Google Authenticator Alternatives in 2023
Although they aren’t as big or widely known as Google or Microsoft, Twilio’s Authy app is one of the most impressive and feature-rich Google Authenticator alternatives. Twilio takes pride in the fact that their app can be used anywhere Google Authenticator can be used, meaning that those making the switch won’t hit any unexpected compatibility issues.
Is Authy better than Google Authenticator?
The difference between Authy and Google Authenticator lies in the number of features offered by each app. If you like minimalism, use Google Authenticator, but if you like multi-device support, full Backup of your 2FA codes, or three authentication types, use Authy.
The Best 2FA Apps 2021: Locking Down Your Online Accounts
Google Authenticator is really the baseline here, because nearly all sites that support 2FA support Google’s app as well. For example, LastPass Authenticator and Authy aren’t explicitly supported by as many sites and services. However, they still use TOTP, making them compatible with all services that support Google Authenticator.

SuperTokens Reviews

  1. David Ruseel
    · Sr. Security Architect at Freelancer ·
    SuperTokens is reliable and safe

    The best part about this library is the level of security it provides with session management. Implementing the library was also easy through the document they provide and with the extensive support on discord channel. They also provided a lot of features compared to the previous library which I was using.

    🏁 Competitors: Auth0, Firebase, Amazon Cognito
    👍 Pros:    Jwt blacklisting|Rotating jwt signing key|Malware protection|Man in the middle attack protection
    👎 Cons:    Automatic email alerts for high resource usage
  2. Jacob Riley
    · Reverse Engineer, OSCP, OSCE at Freelancer ·
    SuperTokens! Best app for Session Security

    I used it with MongoDB and Nodejs. It was very robust and took care of all my security issues. It's super easy to implement like it took me somewhere around 2 to 3 days to implement also while installing it doesn't force or restrict you from doing something a certain way. The documentation provided by SuperTokens is phenomenal too.

    🏁 Competitors: ExpressJS
    👍 Pros:    Session security|Session management|Data protection and security|Simple pricing|Super simple|Easy to use|Information is easily accessible
    👎 Cons:    Not enough intergration yet

12 Best Open-source Database Backend Server and Google Firebase Alternatives
SuberTokens is a self-hosted open-source user authentication backend for startups and companies. It helps developer building a user-based workflow without the complication of complex authentication layer. SuberTokens offers user authentication, tokens management, session management, forget email workflow, email verification, social login support, and easy front-end...
Source: medevel.com

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, SuperTokens should be more popular than Google Authenticator. It has been mentiond 44 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.

Google Authenticator mentions (7)

  • Google Authenticator now supports Google Account synchronization
    Here they have support page https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/1066447. - Source: Hacker News / about 2 years ago
  • I'm building a macOS app in a week with Tauri and Supabase.
    Many authenticator apps already exist on Google Play Store and Apple App Store. Most of them have synchronization features but are limited to backup only or sync with the same platform (ie: iOS or Android only). I'm using one of them for years and at this moment I'm feeling bothered when switching to a mobile device every time login into a website or online service. So, I created Otentik Authenticator. A Google... - Source: dev.to / over 2 years ago
  • Ask HN: How to enable 2FA for Google Account to use Authenticator app?
    Their only docs suggest using an authenticator app (which presumably runs on the 'phone which potentially can be lost' anyway) is possible: https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/1066447?hl=en&ref_topic=2954345 If it's not showing up for you, you'd need to contact their support team to find out why. - Source: Hacker News / about 3 years ago
  • Bought Centric Swap / CNS? Here’s What To Do Next
    By the way, if you don’t already have 2FA (Two-Factor Authentication) set up on your Centric Wallet, now would be a good time to do that. You’ll need to have a 2FA app installed on your smartphone, such as Google Authenticator or Authy. Source: over 3 years ago
  • Storing hex/pulse/pulse swap
    Use 2FA with Google Authenticator for your email, wallets, and pretty much anything else that allows you to do so. Source: over 3 years ago
View more

SuperTokens mentions (44)

  • Top 5 Open Source Identity and Access Management (IAM) providers 2025
    Home page | GitHub Repo | Documentation | Discord community. - Source: dev.to / about 1 month ago
  • Auth Pricing Wars: Cognito vs Auth0 vs Firebase vs Supabase
    For B2C, Supabase will get you most of the way for small to medium MAU applications. You might need additional services for analytics and monitoring. If you are building a boom-or-bust B2C company (ex. Social media platform, video game, media publication) you should consider using an open-source self-hosted solution like SuperTokens. - Source: dev.to / 5 months ago
  • OpenAUTH: Universal, standards-based auth provider
    How does this compare to supertokens https://supertokens.com/ that supports fastify express, hono, bun, koa, nuxt, react, vue, angular with email password + social login + OTP based login + single sign on all wrapped in a self hostable nice package? - Source: Hacker News / 5 months ago
  • The Joy of Astro
    My love for Astro and the web platform is well documented. I've contributed to the docs, I've built some integrations and themes. I recently rediscovered the joy of building with Astro when I made a demo integration with SuperTokens. The ultimate goal for it was to become a part of the create-supertokens-app CLI (published here). - Source: dev.to / 7 months ago
  • How to use SuperTokens in a VueJS app with your own UI
    SuperTokens Core Service: This HTTP service talks to your database. It also contains the core logic for authentication. You can self-host with your database (with docker or without Docker or host it with a SuperTokens-managed service. - Source: dev.to / 7 months ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Google Authenticator and SuperTokens, you can also consider the following products

Authy - Best rated Two-Factor Authentication smartphone app for consumers, simplest 2fa Rest API for developers and a strong authentication platform for the enterprise.

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

Duo Security - Duo Security provides cloud-based two-factor authentication. Duo’s technology can be deployed to protect users, data, and applications from breaches, credential theft, and account takeover.

Cotter - One-click phone number login and checkout

Azure Multi-Factor Authentication - Azure Multi-Factor Authentication helps safeguard access to data and applications while meeting user demand for a simple sign-in process.

Amazon Cognito - Amazon Cognito lets you add user sign-up, sign-in, and access control to your web and mobile apps quickly and easily. It scales to millions of users and supports sign-in with social identity providers and enterprise identity providers via SAML 2.0.