Better Auth vs Firebase Auth
Pricing
Better Auth: Free and open source (MIT); optional managed dashboard from $20/mo
Firebase Auth: Free up to 50k MAU (phone auth: 10k/mo free)
Description
Better Auth: Open-source TypeScript authentication framework that runs inside your app and stores users in your own database
Firebase Auth: Google's authentication service with generous free limits and tight integration across the Firebase ecosystem
Pros
- Free under the MIT licence; you pay only if you want the optional managed dashboard
- Works across frameworks and lets you bring your own database
- Plugins add OAuth providers and security features such as rate limiting, bot detection and breached-password checks
- 50,000 monthly active users free: most solo products never hit that ceiling
- Google, Apple, GitHub, and 10+ social providers work out of the box
- Plugs directly into Firestore, Cloud Functions, and other Google Cloud services
Cons
- Built for TypeScript projects only
- It runs inside your own app, so updates and security patches are your job, unlike hosted services such as Clerk or Auth0
- The free Starter dashboard keeps audit logs for one day and caps them at 10,000 a month
- Tied to the Google ecosystem: using Firebase Auth without other Firebase services feels awkward
- Custom UI required: no pre-built login components like Clerk offers
- Migrating user password hashes out of Firebase is possible but painful
Details
Better Auth is a library, not a hosted service. You install it in your TypeScript app, point it at your own database, and it handles sign-in and OAuth providers, with plugins for the extras. Your users stay in your database, and the framework itself costs nothing.
It suits developer founders who want to own their auth without writing it from scratch. The team also took over Auth.js (formerly NextAuth.js), and Better Auth’s site announces that it is joining Vercel.
The paid part is an optional managed dashboard with audit logs, security detections, transactional email and SMS, and single sign-on. Starter is free with one seat; Pro is $20/month plus usage.
Firebase Auth handles email/password, social login, phone auth, and anonymous users with minimal setup. Google gives you 50,000 MAU free for most auth methods, which is five times what Clerk or Auth0 offer. If you are already using Firestore or Cloud Functions, Auth plugs in with a single line of config.
The downside is that Firebase Auth is designed to keep you inside Google’s ecosystem. Using it as a standalone auth service (say, with a Postgres database and a Next.js app on Vercel) is doable but clunky compared to Clerk or Supabase Auth. You also need to build your own login UI, since Firebase only provides a basic drop-in widget (FirebaseUI) that looks dated. For solo founders already committed to Firebase, Auth is the obvious choice. For everyone else, evaluate whether you want that Google dependency.
Better Auth verified
Firebase Auth verified
