Better Auth vs Stytch
SEPT 2026 auditA comparison of Better Auth and Stytch 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 Stytch if…
B2B products selling to several SSO-using customers early — five connections free is the difference between paying per logo and not paying at all.
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.
- Stytch: There is no flat plan to budget against: everything above the free allowances is metered, so the bill tracks usage rather than a number you agreed to.
Neither quite fits? Every other option, ranked by iScore: Better Auth alternatives · Stytch alternatives
10 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
Stytch 0
At a glance.
| Criterion | Better Auth | Stytch |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | ||
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Kind of free offer | Free tier | Always free |
| What the free plan includes | One dashboard seat, 10,000 audit log events a month at one-day retention, 1,000 security detections a month and community support. | 10,000 monthly active users, 5 SSO or SCIM connections, 1,000 machine-to-machine tokens and 10,000 fingerprints; usage beyond that is billed at list rates. |
| 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. | No priced paid plan: Pay as you go starts at $0/month and meters usage above the free allowances; the only other tier, Enterprise, is quoted "Custom". |
| 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. | Pay as you go with no platform fee: usage above the always-free allowances is metered, and the estimator on the page prices monthly active users, SSO connections, SCIM connections and M2M tokens as separate lines. |
| Infrastructure | ||
| Uptime SLA | None by default. The terms say service level commitments live in a separate SLA or order form, and that absent one the service is provided on a commercially reasonable efforts basis. | 99.99% on Enterprise, which is custom-priced. The self-serve plans publish no uptime commitment. |
| Auth | ||
| Price per SSO connection | One SSO connection is included on the $20/month Pro plan, then $50 per month per additional connection; Directory Sync is metered the same way. | Five SSO or SCIM connections included free. Clerk includes one and charges $75 for each additional; WorkOS charges $125 each from the first. |
| SAML single sign-on | Supported | Supported |
| SCIM provisioning | Supported | Supported |
| Multi-factor authentication | Supported | Supported |
| Audit logs | 10,000 audit log events a month with 1-day retention on the free Starter plan; 20,000 on Pro, then $0.0001 per event. | Event logs cover API requests and dashboard admin actions, are visible in the Dashboard and retained 30 days; longer retention means streaming to Datadog Logs or Grafana Loki, the only supported destinations. |
| Compliance | ||
| GDPR / data residency | Better Auth signs a DPA as processor; transfers outside the EEA, UK or Switzerland rely on the EU Standard Contractual Clauses (Decision 2021/914). | GDPR compliance via a DPA with Standard Contractual Clauses and EU/UK/Swiss Data Privacy Framework self-certification; data sits on U.S. servers only. |
| Encryption at rest | Framework option account.encryptOAuthTokens encrypts OAuth tokens before they are stored in your own database; it is off by default. Framework-level, in the customer's own database; managed infrastructure at-rest encryption is not documented. | Customer Data is encrypted at rest in AWS and GCP using the Advanced Encryption Standard. Scope: all Twilio Services, which the same document defines as including Stytch. |
| Role-based access control | Organization plugin provides role-based access control: permissions follow the user's role in the organization, and roles can also be created at runtime. Framework capability, not a managed-service feature. | Five dashboard roles — Admin, Developer, Support Manager, Support Agent and No Access — each with a published per-permission matrix. Stytch's own dashboard roles; RBAC for your end users is a separate product feature. |
Where they differ.
Kind of free offer
- Better Auth
- Free tier
- Stytch
- Always free
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Better Auth Pricing ↗
“$0 / month 1 dashboard seat 10,000 audit logs / month 1 day retention 1,000 security detections / month community support”
Read 2026-09-13 · official pricing · Report a correction
- Pricing — Stytch ↗
“Pay as you go Starting at: $0 / Month Always free: 10,000 monthly active users and AI agents Unlimited Organizations 5 SSO or SCIM Connections 1,000 M2M Tokens”
Read 2026-09-06 · official pricing · Report a correction
What the free plan includes
- Better Auth
- One dashboard seat, 10,000 audit log events a month at one-day retention, 1,000 security detections a month and community support.
- Stytch
- 10,000 monthly active users, 5 SSO or SCIM connections, 1,000 machine-to-machine tokens and 10,000 fingerprints; usage beyond that is billed at list rates.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Better Auth Pricing ↗
“$0 / month 1 dashboard seat 10,000 audit logs / month 1 day retention 1,000 security detections / month community support”
Read 2026-09-13 · official pricing · Report a correction
- Stytch Pricing ↗
“If you surpass the 10,000 MAUs, 5 SSO or SCIM connections, 1000 M2M tokens, or 10,000 fingerprints included in our free tier, you'll pay for only what you use at the rates outlined above.”
Read 2026-09-13 · official pricing · Report a correction
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.
- Stytch
- No priced paid plan: Pay as you go starts at $0/month and meters usage above the free allowances; the only other tier, Enterprise, is quoted "Custom".
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 · Report a correction
- Pricing — Stytch ↗
“Pay as you go Starting at: $0 / Month [...] Enterprise Starting at: Custom Discounted Rates [...] Base Price Base Price $0 Contact us”
Read 2026-09-13 · official pricing · Report a correction
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.
- Stytch
- Pay as you go with no platform fee: usage above the always-free allowances is metered, and the estimator on the page prices monthly active users, SSO connections, SCIM connections and M2M tokens as separate lines.
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 · Report a correction
- Pricing — Stytch ↗
“Pay as you go Starting at: $0 / Month [...] Monthly active users : SSO Connections SSO SCIM Connections SCIM M2M Tokens M2M Optional add ons”
Read 2026-09-06 · official pricing · Report a correction
Uptime SLA
- Better Auth
- None by default. The terms say service level commitments live in a separate SLA or order form, and that absent one the service is provided on a commercially reasonable efforts basis.
- Stytch
- 99.99% on Enterprise, which is custom-priced. The self-serve plans publish no uptime commitment.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Better Auth Terms of Service ↗
“any service level commitments or support obligations will be set forth in a separate service level agreement [...] absent an sla, the services are provided on a commercially reasonable efforts basis.”
Read 2026-09-14 · official site · Report a correction
- Stytch Pricing ↗
“enterprise starting at: custom discounted rates enterprise support sla private support slack channel migration support 99.99% uptime sla hipaa/baa advanced fraud protection”
Read 2026-09-14 · official pricing · Report a correction
Price per SSO connection
- Better Auth
- One SSO connection is included on the $20/month Pro plan, then $50 per month per additional connection; Directory Sync is metered the same way.
- Stytch
- Five SSO or SCIM connections included free. Clerk includes one and charges $75 for each additional; WorkOS charges $125 each from the first.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Pricing — Better Auth ↗
“For production teams running auth in the critical path. $20 / month [...] Self-service SSO & Directory Sync 1 connection, then $50/month per connection”
Read 2026-09-13 · official pricing · Report a correction
- Pricing — Stytch ↗
“Always free: [...] 5 SSO or SCIM Connections”
Read 2026-09-06 · official pricing · Report a correction
Audit logs
- Better Auth
- 10,000 audit log events a month with 1-day retention on the free Starter plan; 20,000 on Pro, then $0.0001 per event.
- Stytch
- Event logs cover API requests and dashboard admin actions, are visible in the Dashboard and retained 30 days; longer retention means streaming to Datadog Logs or Grafana Loki, the only supported destinations.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Pricing — Better Auth ↗
“Starter [...] 10,000 audit logs / month 1 day retention [...] Pro [...] 20,000 audit logs / month then $0.0001 per event”
Read 2026-09-06 · official pricing · Report a correction
- Event Logs — Stytch Docs ↗
“Event logs should be available within a minute upon request completion and are currently retained for 30 days. For longer retention or external analysis, we recommend enabling event log streaming. [...] Currently Datadog Logs and Grafana Loki are the only supported destinations.”
Read 2026-09-13 · official docs · Report a correction
GDPR / data residency
- Better Auth
- Better Auth signs a DPA as processor; transfers outside the EEA, UK or Switzerland rely on the EU Standard Contractual Clauses (Decision 2021/914).
- Stytch
- GDPR compliance via a DPA with Standard Contractual Clauses and EU/UK/Swiss Data Privacy Framework self-certification; data sits on U.S. servers only.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Data Processing Addendum — Better Auth ↗
“Where Personal Data is transferred outside the EEA, UK, or Switzerland, Processor shall ensure appropriate safeguards are in place, including the Standard Contractual Clauses set forth in Exhibit A. [...] The Standard Contractual Clauses approved by European Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2021/914 of 4 June 2021”
Read 2026-09-13 · official site · Report a correction
- Data compliance — Stytch Docs ↗
“Data Processing Agreement (DPA) : We offer a DPA that incorporates Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) for lawful cross-border data transfers. [...] Stytch self-certifies compliance with the Data Privacy Framework requirements for data transfers from the EU, United Kingdom, and Switzerland to the United States. [...] Because Stytch operates exclusively out of U.S. servers, achieving this level of rigid localization with their service is not possible.”
Read 2026-09-13 · official docs · Report a correction
Encryption at rest
- Better Auth
- Framework option account.encryptOAuthTokens encrypts OAuth tokens before they are stored in your own database; it is off by default. Framework-level, in the customer's own database; managed infrastructure at-rest encryption is not documented.
- Stytch
- Customer Data is encrypted at rest in AWS and GCP using the Advanced Encryption Standard. Scope: all Twilio Services, which the same document defines as including Stytch.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Options — Better Auth docs ↗
“encryptOAuthTokens Encrypt OAuth tokens before storing them in the database. Default: false”
Read 2026-09-13 · official docs · Report a correction
- Twilio Security Overview ↗
“Customer Data is encrypted at rest in AWS and GCP using the Advanced Encryption Standard.”
Read 2026-09-13 · official site · Report a correction
Role-based access control
- Better Auth
- Organization plugin provides role-based access control: permissions follow the user's role in the organization, and roles can also be created at runtime. Framework capability, not a managed-service feature.
- Stytch
- Five dashboard roles — Admin, Developer, Support Manager, Support Agent and No Access — each with a published per-permission matrix. Stytch's own dashboard roles; RBAC for your end users is a separate product feature.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Organization — Better Auth docs ↗
“The organization plugin provides a very flexible access control system. You can control the access of the user based on the role they have in the organization. [...] Dynamic access control allows you to create roles at runtime for organizations.”
Read 2026-09-13 · official docs · Report a correction
- Dashboard Roles and Permissions — Stytch Docs ↗
“Stytch offers the following user roles in our dashboard: Admin: Able to perform all actions across the Dashboard, including managing Live API Keys. [...] Support Agent: Read access to project Users, Members, Organizations and event logs.”
Read 2026-09-13 · official docs · Report a correction
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 — except where we say we read the other provider's own page on a given date and it does not state it. Those rows lean, and the provider can correct them with a link.
Questions this comparison answers.
Entry paid plan: Better Auth or Stytch?
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.
Stytch: No priced paid plan: Pay as you go starts at $0/month and meters usage above the free allowances; the only other tier, Enterprise, is quoted "Custom".
Should I choose Better Auth or Stytch?
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 Stytch if B2B products selling to several SSO-using customers early — five connections free is the difference between paying per logo and not paying at all.
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