SuperTokens
Open SourceAPISuperTokens is an open source authentication platform with pre-built login UI, session management, and self-hosting supp
supertokens.comLast updated: April 2026
SuperTokens is an open source authentication platform with pre-built login UI, session management, and self-hosting support as a Supabase Auth alternative.
About
SuperTokens is an open source authentication solution that enables developers to add secure, customizable authentication to their applications without building auth infrastructure from scratch. As a self-hostable alternative to Auth0 and Firebase Auth, SuperTokens provides full control over user data and authentication flows while eliminating the vendor lock-in and compliance concerns of proprietary authentication services.
The open source and self-hosting model is SuperTokens' defining characteristic. The complete SuperTokens server can be run on any infrastructure using Docker, including local development environments, company servers, and cloud instances. This self-hosted deployment keeps all user credentials and authentication data within the organization's own infrastructure, addressing data residency, compliance, and privacy requirements that preclude using third-party authentication services.
SuperTokens Core is the open source backend authentication server that handles session management, user storage, and authentication logic. It exposes a REST API consumed by the SuperTokens backend SDKs for Node.js, Python, Go, and others. The backend SDKs add authentication middleware to the application's API, handling session verification, token rotation, and security headers automatically.
The frontend SDKs for React, React Native, Vanilla JavaScript, Vue.js, and Angular provide pre-built authentication UI components including sign-in, sign-up, forgot password, and email verification screens. These components are fully customizable through CSS overrides and component injection, enabling teams to match the authentication UI to their application's design without rebuilding it from scratch.
Authentication recipes in SuperTokens cover the most common authentication patterns. Email and password authentication with secure password hashing, email magic links for passwordless login, third-party OAuth login with Google, GitHub, Facebook, Apple, and others, phone number OTP authentication, and multi-factor authentication are all available as pre-built recipes that can be enabled and customized.
The SuperTokens Managed Service is a cloud-hosted version of the SuperTokens Core for teams that want the benefits of SuperTokens without managing their own infrastructure. The managed service provides the same features as the self-hosted version with additional operational convenience.
Positioning
SuperTokens is an open source authentication solution that gives developers full control over their auth infrastructure. Unlike managed auth services that hold user data in third-party systems, SuperTokens can be self-hosted so that session tokens, user credentials, and authentication logic run entirely within your own infrastructure and database.
The platform provides pre-built authentication recipes — email/password, passwordless, social login, and multi-factor auth — that handle the security-critical details while remaining fully customizable. SuperTokens is designed for teams that want the convenience of an auth library with the transparency and control of open source software.
What You Get
- Auth Recipes
Pre-built flows for email/password, passwordless (magic link/OTP), social OAuth, and phone authentication with customizable logic at every step - Session Management
Rotating refresh tokens with automatic CSRF protection, token theft detection, and configurable access token lifetimes - Multi-Factor Authentication
TOTP-based MFA that integrates with any primary auth recipe, with customizable enforcement policies per user role - User Management Dashboard
Built-in admin interface for viewing users, revoking sessions, managing roles, and debugging auth issues - Multi-Tenancy
Support for B2B SaaS applications with per-tenant login methods, SSO configurations, and isolated user pools
Core Areas
Self-Hosted Authentication
Run the complete auth backend on your own infrastructure with PostgreSQL or MySQL, keeping all user data under your control
Managed Cloud Option
Hosted SuperTokens core for teams that want open source flexibility without managing auth infrastructure
Framework Integration
Backend SDKs for Node.js, Python, and Go with frontend SDKs for React, React Native, vanilla JS, and mobile platforms
Migration Tools
Import users from Auth0, Firebase, Cognito, or any existing auth system with password hash compatibility
Why It Matters
Auth-as-a-service platforms introduce vendor lock-in and data sovereignty risks that become problematic as companies scale. SuperTokens provides an escape hatch — production-ready authentication that you can self-host, audit, and customize without being dependent on a third-party service for every login event.
The open source model means security researchers can inspect the authentication logic, session management, and token handling — a level of transparency that closed-source auth providers cannot offer but that security-conscious engineering teams increasingly demand.
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