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Better Auth vs SuperTokens

SEPT 2026 audit

A comparison of Better Auth and SuperTokens built from values read directly from each provider's own documentation, with the source recorded against every figure.

Reviewed by Palash BagchiUpdated 19 criteria comparedSources last checked

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 SuperTokens if…

Teams that want to run auth themselves and keep the user table in their own database, with a managed option priced per user rather than per plan.

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.
  • SuperTokens: The $100 monthly minimum makes it expensive below about 5,000 users, and MFA is a separate per-user charge rather than an included feature.

Neither quite fits? Every other option, ranked by iScore: Better Auth alternatives · SuperTokens alternatives

8 sourced criteria separate them — see where, with sources, below.

Visit Better Auth documentationVisit SuperTokens documentation

No affiliate links, sponsored placements or paid rankings appear on this site. Ordering follows the sourced data and the stated criteria.

01.

At a glance.

CriterionBetter AuthSuperTokens
Pricing
Free tierYesYes
Kind of free offerFree tierAlways free
What the free plan includesOne dashboard seat, 10,000 audit log events a month at one-day retention, 1,000 security detections a month and community support.The open-source features are free at any scale when self-hosted, with no user cap; only the paid add-ons and the managed service are billed. The managed dashboard is free for the first three users.
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.
$100 per month minimum billing on the managed Cloud service; anything from 1 to 4,999 MAU bills at that $100 floor.
Pricing modelThe 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.Per monthly active user with add-ons metered on top rather than bundled: $0.02 per MAU base, plus $0.01 per MAU for multi-factor auth, plus $0.005 per MAU for account linking, plus $20 per dashboard user per month beyond the 3 free ones — all against a $100/month minimum on the managed Cloud plan. Self-hosting the open source features is free with no MAU limit.
Observability
Self-hostableSupportedSupported
Auth
SCIM provisioning
Supported
Not supported — Not shipped; the post shows how to build SCIM endpoints on top of SuperTokens yourself.
Multi-factor authenticationSupportedSupported
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).
Listed as compliant on "Compliance (SOC2, GDPR)" in the pricing page's own comparison table (SuperTokens column: Yes). A self-comparison table; no data-residency or EU-hosting option is given there.
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.
Trust centre control "Data encryption utilized": datastores housing sensitive customer data are encrypted at rest.
Role-based access controlOrganization 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.Built-in User Roles feature: create roles and permissions, assign them to users and limit access based on application logic.

Only criteria both providers publish appear here; a tinted cell marks a real difference. Criteria only one of them documents are listed below, and an absence there means we found no source — not that the feature is missing. How we source this.

The small bar above a value is inetGeek's own lean toward that side — computed from the same facts shown, never a number the provider published. See the picker below "The short answer" to weigh only the criteria you care about.

02.

Where they differ.

Kind of free offer

Better Auth
Free tier
SuperTokens
Always free
Sources (2) →

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.
SuperTokens
The open-source features are free at any scale when self-hosted, with no user cap; only the paid add-ons and the managed service are billed. The managed dashboard is free for the first three users.
Sources (2) →
  • 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

  • SuperTokens Pricing ↗

    “In self hosted, you can use the open source features of SuperTokens for free at any scale and pay only for the paid features mentioned in "Scale". [...] free for first 3 users”

    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.
SuperTokens
$100 per month minimum billing on the managed Cloud service; anything from 1 to 4,999 MAU bills at that $100 floor.
Sources (2) →

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.
SuperTokens
Per monthly active user with add-ons metered on top rather than bundled: $0.02 per MAU base, plus $0.01 per MAU for multi-factor auth, plus $0.005 per MAU for account linking, plus $20 per dashboard user per month beyond the 3 free ones — all against a $100/month minimum on the managed Cloud plan. Self-hosting the open source features is free with no MAU limit.
Sources (2) →
  • 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 & Features for SuperTokens ↗

    “Cloud Self-hosted $0.02 per MAU [...] Multi-factor Authentication $0.01 / MAU [...] Account Linking $0.005 / MAU [...] Number of Dashboard users (3 free users) $20 / user / month”

    Read 2026-09-13 · official pricing · Report a correction

SCIM provisioning

Better Auth
Supported
SuperTokens
Not supported — Not shipped; the post shows how to build SCIM endpoints on top of SuperTokens yourself.
Sources (2) →

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).
SuperTokens
Listed as compliant on "Compliance (SOC2, GDPR)" in the pricing page's own comparison table (SuperTokens column: Yes). A self-comparison table; no data-residency or EU-hosting option is given there.
Sources (2) →
  • 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

  • Pricing & Features for SuperTokens ↗

    “Supertokens Auth0 AWS Cognito Keycloak Firebase [...] Compliance (SOC2, GDPR) Yes Yes Yes Self hosted - so not required Yes”

    Read 2026-09-13 · official pricing · 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.
SuperTokens
Trust centre control "Data encryption utilized": datastores housing sensitive customer data are encrypted at rest.
Sources (2) →

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.
SuperTokens
Built-in User Roles feature: create roles and permissions, assign them to users and limit access based on application logic.
Sources (2) →
  • 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

  • Introduction - SuperTokens Docs ↗

    “SuperTokens provides a way to set different levels of authorization control through the User Roles feature. With it, you can create roles and permissions, assign them to your users and limit access based on your application logic.”

    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.

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03.

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.

RegionsSuperTokens: Attack Protection Suite calls go to one of three published regional endpoints: US (N. Virginia), EU (Ireland) and APAC (Singapore). Attack Protection Suite endpoints only; the managed core's own region list is not enumerated on the site.
Uptime SLABetter 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.
Users includedSuperTokens: No fixed allowance — billing is $0.02 per monthly active user against a $100 monthly minimum, so the first 4,999 users are covered by the floor.
Price per SSO connectionBetter 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.
SAML single sign-onBetter Auth: Supported
Audit logsBetter 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.
SOC 2SuperTokens: Advertised as SOC2 compliant with 100+ controls and tests; the site does not state the audit type (Type I or II) or report availability.
Private networking / VPCSuperTokens: Self-hosted only: docs say to run the Core and PostgreSQL on private networks, or a subnet reachable only by your own backend. Self-host deployment guidance, not a managed-service private-link or VPC-peering offering.
04.

Questions this comparison answers.

Entry paid plan: Better Auth or SuperTokens?

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.

SuperTokens: $100 per month minimum billing on the managed Cloud service; anything from 1 to 4,999 MAU bills at that $100 floor.

Should I choose Better Auth or SuperTokens?

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 SuperTokens if Teams that want to run auth themselves and keep the user table in their own database, with a managed option priced per user rather than per plan.

Provider pages

Better AuthOpen-source TypeScript authentication framework that runs in your own codebase, with optional managed infrastructure for dashboards and audit logs.SuperTokensOpen-source auth billed per monthly active user, with MFA and account linking metered separately and a self-hosted option.

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Comments

Every page here is sourced and dated.