Best Auth Protocols (2025)
Ranked picks for auth protocols. No "it depends."
🧊Nice Pick
JWT
The stateless authentication darling that everyone uses but often misuses, leading to security headaches.
Full Rankings
#1
Details →JWT
Nice PickThe stateless authentication darling that everyone uses but often misuses, leading to security headaches.
Pros
- +Stateless and scalable for distributed systems
- +Self-contained with all necessary info in the token
- +Easy to implement with widespread library support
Cons
- -Tokens can't be revoked without extra infrastructure
- -Prone to security issues if not properly validated
The security dance everyone hates but can't live without. Delegating access without sharing passwords, because trust is a token.
Pros
- +Eliminates password sharing for third-party apps
- +Standardized across major platforms like Google and Facebook
- +Granular scopes for fine-grained access control
Cons
- -Implementation complexity leads to frequent security flaws
- -Token management can be a debugging nightmare
Compare:vs JWT
OAuth 2.0's identity upgrade. Because who doesn't want a standardized way to know who's logging in?
Pros
- +Built on OAuth 2.0, so it's widely supported and integrates seamlessly with existing authorization flows
- +Uses JWTs for secure, self-contained identity tokens that are easy to validate and parse
- +Provides standardized user profile claims, reducing custom implementation headaches
- +Enables single sign-on (SSO) across multiple applications without reinventing the wheel
Cons
- -Adds complexity on top of OAuth 2.0, which can be overkill for simple authentication needs
- -Requires careful JWT validation and key management to avoid security pitfalls
Head-to-head comparisons
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