{"data":{"slug":"better-auth","name":"Better Auth","tagline":"TypeScript auth that lives in your app, not a rented IdP","category":"nextjs","categoryName":"Next.js","url":"https://www.better-auth.com","github":"https://github.com/better-auth/better-auth","pricing":"freemium","hook":"Better Auth is the MIT library that replaced Auth.js for people who still want to own the database.","whatsGood":"Framework is MIT (LICENSE.md). Credentials, social, orgs, passkeys, MCP/agent auth, npx auth init. Hosted dashboard Starter is 0 USD/month (1 seat, 10,000 audit logs/month, 1-day retention). You keep the user table. Works next to Polar. Homepage names OpenAI, Databricks, and Strapi.","theCatch":"The library is free; dashboards, audit, and SSO add-ons are the paid wedge. Starter audit retention is 1 day. This is not a hosted IdP — you still own the database and the incident.","verdict":"The MIT auth library to reach for before Clerk. Framework is free; the dashboard is the upsell.","addedAt":"2026-09-03","featured":false,"domain":"Next.js","subSpecialty":"Auth","capabilities":["auth","typescript"],"surfaces":["Hosted"],"ecosystem":["Node.js","Browser"],"licenseModel":"Freemium","githubStars":29808},"related":[{"slug":"vercel","name":"Vercel","tagline":"The platform that made Next.js deployment trivial"},{"slug":"prisma","name":"Prisma","tagline":"Type-safe database access with killer DX"},{"slug":"drizzle","name":"Drizzle ORM","tagline":"TypeScript ORM that feels like SQL"},{"slug":"trpc","name":"tRPC","tagline":"End-to-end typesafe APIs without codegen"},{"slug":"clerk","name":"Clerk","tagline":"Auth that actually ships with your UI"}],"links":{"self":"/api/gems/better-auth","html":"/gems/better-auth","markdown":"/gems/better-auth.md","category":"/api/gems?category=nextjs","categoryPage":"/stacks/nextjs"}}