Ory Kratos vs SuperTokens
Both are alternatives to Auth0. Here's how they stack up — verified facts, no spin.
Also searched as SuperTokens vs Ory Kratos — same comparison, one verdict.
Ory Kratos and SuperTokens are closely matched on ownership (84 vs 80) — this one comes down to pricing and to which trade-offs below you can live with.
Ory Kratos
A headless, API-only identity server for teams that want to build their own login UI.
Ory Kratos is a headless identity and user-management server — it handles registration, login, MFA, account recovery, and profile management entirely through APIs, with no bundled UI. It's designed for teams who want full control over the login experience and are comfortable building their own frontend against a well-documented identity API.
SuperTokens
A developer-friendly, self-hostable auth core built for fast integration into existing apps.
SuperTokens is an authentication solution built to drop into an existing app quickly, with official SDKs for popular frontend and backend frameworks and pre-built session-management, MFA, and passwordless flows. It ships a self-hostable core service plus a managed cloud option, aimed at teams that want Auth0-like integration speed without the recurring per-MAU cost.
Side by side
10 points of comparison, every one read from a verified field. Green marks the side that wins a row outright. A dash means we do not hold that fact — never that it is zero.
| Ory Kratos | SuperTokens | |
|---|---|---|
| Sovereignty ScoreOur transparent 0–100 composite for data ownership and exit cost. | 84 | 80 |
| Open source | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hostable | Yes | Yes |
| Local-first data | Yes | Yes |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 (core); ee/ subdirectory carries its own separate license for paid enterprise features |
| Pricing | Free / self-host under Apache-2.0; Ory Network offers a managed hosted version with a free tier and paid usage-based plans for teams that prefer not to operate it themselves. | Free / self-host for the Apache-2.0 core; a managed SuperTokens cloud and a paid Enterprise tier (SSO/SAML, advanced MFA policies under the ee/ license) are available for teams that want those features or don't want to self-host. |
| RAM to run it wellThe figure that actually matters, not the vendor's minimum. | 1–2 GB for Kratos, PostgreSQL and a login UI together. Kratos itself is a single Go binary and keeps no state of its own. | — |
| Realistic running costWhat the box costs each month if you run it yourself. | $6–12/mo for a small app's login service on a 1–2 GB VPS, plus an SMTP provider for verification and recovery emails | — |
| Setup timeHonest first-install estimate, not the marketing quickstart. | An hour for the quickstart; days to a week for production, because you build or adapt the login UI and write the identity schema | — |
| Ongoing maintenanceThe part nobody budgets for. | Back up, read the changelog for breaking changes and run `kratos migrate sql` on every upgrade. Open-source releases have come about twice a year (v25.4.0 in November 2025, v26.2.0 in March 2026), and your UI has to keep up with SDK changes. | — |
Ory Kratos edges it on the Sovereignty Score, but the right pick depends on the trade-offs below.
Weighing both against staying on Auth0? Is Auth0 free? What it actually costs →
Ory Kratos
Strengths
- +Clean Apache-2.0 license with no enterprise-only carve-out directory, unlike several peers
- +Headless-by-design means zero UI lock-in — build exactly the login experience your product needs
- +Pairs well with companion Ory projects (Hydra for OAuth2/OIDC server, Keto for permissions) for teams that need the full stack
- +Strong documentation and a security-first design philosophy from the Ory team
Trade-offs
- −Headless-only means you must build and maintain your own login/registration UI — meaningfully more upfront engineering work than Auth0's Universal Login or authentik's flow builder
- −Running the full picture (Kratos + Hydra + Keto) for OAuth2/OIDC server capability adds operational complexity beyond a single service
- −Smaller ecosystem of ready-made UI kits/themes compared to Keycloak or authentik
SuperTokens
Strengths
- +Genuinely permissive Apache-2.0 core license for self-hosting the base authentication service
- +SDK-first design with strong framework coverage makes initial integration noticeably faster than headless-only alternatives
- +Built-in session-management primitives (rotating refresh tokens, anti-CSRF) are handled for you rather than left to the integrator
- +Free self-hosted core has no MAU cap, unlike Auth0's metered model
Trade-offs
- −Enterprise SSO/SAML and some advanced MFA policies live behind the separately-licensed ee/ directory, not the free core — verify feature-tier fit before committing
- −Smaller community and third-party plugin ecosystem than Keycloak
- −Fewer built-in identity-brokering options (LDAP, legacy enterprise directories) than Keycloak or authentik out of the box
Which one fits you
The trade-offs above, turned into a decision. Find the line that describes your team.
Choose Ory Kratos
if a lower exit cost matters more to you than any single feature, and clean Apache-2.0 license with no enterprise-only carve-out directory, unlike several peers.
Choose SuperTokens
if genuinely permissive Apache-2.0 core license for self-hosting the base authentication service.
Neither, yet
if both carry a real cost you should weigh first — headless-only means you must build and maintain your own login/registration UI — meaningfully more upfront engineering work than Auth0's Universal Login or authentik's flow builder, and enterprise SSO/SAML and some advanced MFA policies live behind the separately-licensed ee/ directory, not the free core — verify feature-tier fit before committing. If either of those is a dealbreaker for your team, the shortlist is wrong rather than the choice.
What it takes to run these yourself
Real requirements and honest running costs, not the vendor quickstart.
Ory Kratos vs SuperTokens — common questions
Is Ory Kratos a better fit than SuperTokens for authentication & identity?
It depends on what you are optimising for, and the honest split is this: Ory Kratos scores 84 to SuperTokens's 80 on data ownership and exit cost, so it is the safer choice if you care about being able to leave. SuperTokens earns its place on a different axis — genuinely permissive Apache-2.0 core license for self-hosting the base authentication service. Neither is a wrong answer for every team; the table above is the actual comparison.
What happens if we want to switch later?
Ory Kratos keeps its data local or in open formats, so leaving is an export rather than a negotiation. SuperTokens is still self-hostable, so the files stay on your server either way — but it is not local-first by design, so check what its export produces before you rely on it.
Can I self-host Ory Kratos or SuperTokens?
Both can be self-hosted. The difference is what it costs you in time rather than whether it is possible — see the setup and maintenance rows above.
Are Ory Kratos and SuperTokens both alternatives to Auth0?
Yes — both appear in our Auth0 comparison, which is why they are worth putting side by side. People usually arrive here already having decided to move off Auth0 and now choosing between the two replacements, which is a narrower and much easier question.
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Facts verified 2026-07-14. Licenses and pricing change — spotted something out of date? That's a correction we want.