Better Auth vs Kinde
SEPT 2026 auditA comparison of Better Auth and Kinde built from values read directly from each provider's own documentation, with the source recorded against every figure.
The short answer
Choose Better Auth if…
Teams that want the user table in their own database and no per-user bill at all — the framework is free, and the $20 plan buys tooling rather than access.
Editorial · Palash Bagchi · approved
Choose Kinde if…
Products that want a predictable flat fee and a large free user allowance that does not change when you start paying — 10,500 MAU on every tier is the opposite of Auth0's paid-plan cliff.
Editorial · Palash Bagchi · approved
Consider something else if…
- Better Auth: You want a hosted service with an SLA rather than a library you run, since everything below the dashboard is your operational problem.
- Kinde: Enterprise SSO only becomes free at the $75 tier, and if you use Kinde's billing there is a 0.5% cut of your own transactions on top of the plan fee.
2 sourced criteria separate them — see where, with sources, below.
Pick the criteria you care about. The chart counts how many of them lean toward each provider — the same read as scanning the bars below, just totalled for the ones you chose.
Better Auth 0
Kinde 0
At a glance.
| Criterion | Better Auth | Kinde |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | ||
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Entry paid plan | $20/month for Pro on the managed infrastructure. The framework itself costs nothing — the plan buys a dashboard, audit logs and security detections around it. | $25/month for Pro. Plus is $75 and the top tier $250 — each including the same 10,500 MAU as the free plan. |
| Pricing model | The framework is free and open source and holds your user data in your own database. The paid plans price the surrounding infrastructure by event: audit logs at $0.0001 each beyond the allowance, security detections at $0.001, email at $0.001 and SMS at $0.09. | A flat monthly fee with the same MAU allowance at every level, plus a transaction fee when you bill your own customers through Kinde — 0.5% per transaction, discounted 0.1% on Plus and 0.2% above. |
| Auth | ||
| SAML single sign-on | Supported | Supported |
| Multi-factor authentication | Supported | Supported |
Where they differ.
Entry paid plan
- Better Auth
- $20/month for Pro on the managed infrastructure. The framework itself costs nothing — the plan buys a dashboard, audit logs and security detections around it.
- Kinde
- $25/month for Pro. Plus is $75 and the top tier $250 — each including the same 10,500 MAU as the free plan.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Pricing — Better Auth ↗
“The Better Auth framework is free and open source. Pricing below is for our managed infrastructure. [...] Pro [...] $20 / month Unlimited seats”
Read 2026-09-06 · official pricing
- Pricing — Kinde ↗
“$25 USD per month 10,500 MAU free [...] $75 USD per month 10,500 MAU free [...] $250 USD per month 10,500 MAU free”
Read 2026-09-06 · official pricing
Pricing model
- Better Auth
- The framework is free and open source and holds your user data in your own database. The paid plans price the surrounding infrastructure by event: audit logs at $0.0001 each beyond the allowance, security detections at $0.001, email at $0.001 and SMS at $0.09.
- Kinde
- A flat monthly fee with the same MAU allowance at every level, plus a transaction fee when you bill your own customers through Kinde — 0.5% per transaction, discounted 0.1% on Plus and 0.2% above.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Pricing — Better Auth ↗
“$20 / month [...] 20,000 audit logs / month then $0.0001 per event 10,000 security detections / month then $0.001 per event [...] Transactional email & SMS $0.001 per email, $0.09 per SMS”
Read 2026-09-06 · official pricing
- Pricing — Kinde ↗
“When you bill your customers with Kinde: 0.5% per transaction MAU is free [...] 0.1% transaction fee discount [...] 0.2% transaction fee discount”
Read 2026-09-06 · official pricing
When these numbers change, hear about it. Sources are re-checked monthly; a repricing goes out as a short note.
Documented by only one.
These criteria are published by one provider and not the other. An absence here means we have not found a source, not that the feature is missing.
Questions this comparison answers.
Entry paid plan: Better Auth or Kinde?
Better Auth: $20/month for Pro on the managed infrastructure. The framework itself costs nothing — the plan buys a dashboard, audit logs and security detections around it.
Kinde: $25/month for Pro. Plus is $75 and the top tier $250 — each including the same 10,500 MAU as the free plan.
Should I choose Better Auth or Kinde?
Pick Better Auth if Teams that want the user table in their own database and no per-user bill at all — the framework is free, and the $20 plan buys tooling rather than access.
Pick Kinde if Products that want a predictable flat fee and a large free user allowance that does not change when you start paying — 10,500 MAU on every tier is the opposite of Auth0's paid-plan cliff.