Clerk
Auth0About Hanko
Hanko is authentication built for the passwordless era: passkeys (WebAuthn) are the default, not an add-on, with email passcodes, OAuth logins and passwords available where you still need them.
It ships as a compact Go backend plus polished, framework-agnostic web components — drop `<hanko-auth>` into your app and you have modern login, sessions and user management. Self-host it and your user database answers to no third party.
AGPL-3.0 licensed (with a hosted cloud available), Hanko is the clean open alternative to renting your auth from Clerk or Auth0 — especially for teams that care where credentials live.
What makes it different
WebAuthn passkeys by default, plus passcodes, OAuth providers and optional passwords.
Prebuilt, themeable web components for login and profile — minutes to integrate.
Sessions, JWTs, user admin and audit logs handled by the backend.
Own your user data outright — a Go binary and Postgres is all it takes.
Go
TypeScript
PostgreSQL
DockerThe honest read
- Modern passkey-first UX
- Your user data stays on your servers
- Quick drop-in web components
- Lightweight Go backend
- Open source under AGPL-3.0
- Fewer enterprise features than Auth0
- Smaller ecosystem than Clerk
- B2B SSO/SAML needs work elsewhere
- Younger community
Quick answers
Yes — Hanko is open source under AGPL-3.0 and free to self-host. Hanko Cloud offers a managed option with a free tier.
Passkeys are phishing-resistant WebAuthn credentials that replace passwords with device biometrics — Face ID, Touch ID, security keys. Hanko makes them the default login.
Clerk is a polished closed SaaS; Hanko gives you comparable modern auth UX, open source and self-hostable, so credentials live on your infrastructure.
Yes — passwords, email passcodes and OAuth providers are all supported alongside passkeys.
Docker with the Hanko backend and PostgreSQL — a small VPS is plenty for most apps.
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