Alt Auth vs Better Auth: Hosted Login or Self-Hosted Library?
By The Alt Auth Team
Better Auth has become one of the most talked-about projects in authentication, and deservedly so. It is a free, MIT-licensed, framework-agnostic auth framework for TypeScript that runs inside your own app, works with Next.js, Nuxt, SvelteKit, Astro, Hono and many more, and stores users, sessions and accounts in your own database. Alt Auth sits at the other end of the spectrum: a hosted login service with a branded sign-up and sign-in page and a dashboard to manage your users. This is really the build-versus-buy question with a modern twist — so here is an honest look at both.
The short version
- Pick Better Auth if you are a TypeScript team, want auth in your own codebase and database, and are comfortable owning its security and upgrades.
- Pick Alt Auth if you want login handled for you — hosted, branded, monitored and kept up to date — and your backend is not necessarily TypeScript.
- Both are legitimate choices. The deciding question is who you want to be on call when something in auth goes wrong.
What Better Auth does well
Flexibility. Because it is a library, you control everything: the database (built-in support for PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQLite and MSSQL, plus Drizzle, Prisma and MongoDB adapters), the session model and every screen. Its plugin system covers two-step verification, passkeys, magic links, organizations with roles and invitations, API keys and enterprise SSO with SAML and SCIM. There is no per-user fee for the framework. At the time of writing (October 2026), an optional managed service adds a dashboard, audit logs and security detection: Starter is free, Pro is $20 a month, Enterprise is custom.
What Alt Auth does differently
Alt Auth runs the whole flow for you. Your users sign up, sign in and reset passwords on a hosted page with your branding; they return to your app with a one-time code, and your backend exchanges it for their details and a signed session token. There is no auth code in your app to patch, no password table in your database to protect, and nothing tied to a language — the same redirect works from TypeScript, Python, PHP or a mobile app. Passwords are stored as salted bcrypt hashes, traffic is encrypted, data is stored in the EU, and we handle the monitoring and updates.
“A library gives you every lever. A service takes the levers you never wanted to pull off your hands. Be honest about which kind of team you are.”— The Alt Auth Team
Cost, honestly
Better Auth’s framework is free, but running it is not: you pay for hosting, the database, email and SMS delivery, and — the biggest line item — engineering time for upgrades, security review and incident response. Alt Auth puts that into one monthly price: Hobby is free up to 1,000 active users; Starter is $29 with 10,000 included; Growth is $99 with 30,000; Business is $299 with 100,000, each with a small per-user price above that. For a team with spare platform capacity, Better Auth can be cheaper. For a small team, the hours usually cost more than the subscription.
Where Better Auth is stronger
- Full ownership of code and data, with no vendor in the request path.
- Passkeys, SAML/SCIM and organizations available now — Alt Auth’s company single sign-on is coming soon, and it does not offer passkeys.
- Deep customisation of the session model and data schema.
Where Alt Auth is stronger
- No auth code or password storage to maintain, patch or audit yourself.
- Works with any backend language, not only TypeScript.
- A ready-made dashboard for users, roles, organizations, blocking and analytics.
- Branded hosted pages — logo and colours from Starter, full design and your own web address from Growth.
- Two-step verification from Starter; sign-in links by email (single use, valid 15 minutes) from Growth.
The verdict
If auth is a place your team wants to invest — and you have the people to keep it secure — Better Auth is an excellent framework. If you would rather spend those hours on your product and have a branded login that someone else keeps running, Alt Auth is the simpler path. Our build-versus-buy article goes deeper into the hidden costs on both sides.
Read: Build vs Buy — the real cost of rolling your own auth →