Supabase Auth vs Hanko for Solo Developers

Comparing Supabase Auth and Hanko for solo developers.

Passwordless authentication is no longer a niche trend. Users expect magic links, passkeys, and social logins. Both Supabase Auth and Hanko deliver modern authentication, but they take very different approaches. For solo developers, understanding these differences can save weeks of integration work.

Supabase Auth Overview

Supabase Auth is the authentication module within the Supabase platform. It provides email/password, magic links, phone OTP, and OAuth with over 20 social providers out of the box. Everything ties directly into your Supabase Postgres database, which means your auth users and app data live in the same place.

The real power for solo developers is row-level security. You write Postgres policies that reference auth.uid(), and your database enforces access rules without any application code. The free tier supports 50,000 monthly active users, and the JavaScript SDK makes integration a few lines of code.

Supabase Auth is not just an auth service. It is part of a full backend-as-a-service that includes database, storage, edge functions, and realtime subscriptions. If you are using Supabase for anything else, auth is essentially free to add.

Hanko Overview

Hanko is an open-source authentication solution built specifically around passkeys and passwordless flows. It positions itself as a modern alternative to traditional auth, putting WebAuthn and passkeys at the center of the experience rather than treating them as an add-on.

Hanko provides drop-in web components (<hanko-auth> and <hanko-profile>) that render a complete login and registration UI. You embed them in your frontend and they handle the entire flow, including passkey registration, email passcodes, and OAuth. The backend runs as a standalone service (Go binary or Docker container) with its own user store.

The Hanko Cloud managed service offers a free tier with 10,000 monthly active users. Self-hosting is fully supported and gives you unlimited users. The focus on passkeys means Hanko is betting on the future of authentication, where passwords become optional or disappear entirely.

Comparison Table

Feature	Supabase Auth	Hanko
Type	Managed BaaS (or self-hosted)	Managed or self-hosted
Free tier	50K MAU, $0/mo	10K MAU, 2 projects, $0/mo (cloud)
Paid entry tier	Pro $25/mo, 100K MAU included	Pro $29/mo, 10K MAU included
Overage rate	$0.00325 per MAU above 100K	$0.01 per MAU above 10K
Passkey support	Available, not the core model	First-class, core focus (WebAuthn)
Drop-in UI	No (use SDK)	Yes (web components)
OAuth providers	17+ named built-in (Google, Apple, GitHub, Azure, Discord, more) + custom OIDC	Apple, Google, GitHub, Microsoft, Discord, LinkedIn, Facebook + custom OAuth/OIDC
Email/password	Yes	Optional (passwordless-first)
Magic links	Yes	Email passcodes
Phone / SMS auth	Yes (Twilio, MessageBird, Vonage)	No
Database integration	Direct Postgres RLS via `auth.uid()`	Separate user store
Backend ecosystem	Database, storage, edge functions, realtime	Auth only
SDK languages	JS, Flutter, Swift, Kotlin	JS web components (`@teamhanko/hanko-elements`)
Self-host complexity	Moderate (GoTrue + Postgres)	Low (single Go binary)
License (self-host)	MIT (supabase/auth)	Frontend MIT, backend AGPL-3.0
Customization	Via API and hooks	CSS variables, web components
Learning curve	Low	Low

By the Numbers (2026)

The headline numbers tell two stories. Supabase is a mature, broadly adopted platform; Hanko is a focused, fast-growing newcomer. Here is what the registries and repos show, all checked on 2026-05-29.

Adoption and momentum

The main supabase/supabase monorepo sits at 103,192 GitHub stars with 12,575 forks under an Apache-2.0 license. The actual auth backend lives in supabase/auth (the GoTrue fork), which has 2,442 stars under the MIT license.
teamhanko/hanko has 8,939 stars and 1,014 forks. Its repo tagline reads "Modern authentication, on your terms. Open source alternative to Auth0, Clerk, WorkOS, Stytch."
On npm, @supabase/supabase-js pulled roughly 19.8 million weekly downloads (19,829,221 for the week ending 2026-05-28). @teamhanko/hanko-elements pulled 4,598 in the same week. That is a download gap of more than four thousand to one, which is the clearest signal of how much larger the Supabase install base is.

Current versions

@supabase/supabase-js latest is 2.106.2, published 2026-05-25.
The supabase/auth backend latest release is v2.189.0, published 2026-04-28.
@teamhanko/hanko-elements latest is 2.6.0.
The Hanko backend latest release is backend/v2.5.0, published 2026-03-03.

Pricing and limits

Supabase Free is $0/month and includes 50,000 monthly active users for auth. Pro is $25/month and includes 100,000 MAU, then $0.00325 per additional MAU. Team is $599/month on the same per-MAU auth structure. Phone-based MFA is a $75/month add-on for the first project.
Hanko Cloud Starter is free with 10,000 monthly active users and 2 projects. Pro is $29/month, also with 10,000 MAU included, then $0.01 per MAU above that, and 5 projects. Enterprise is custom with unlimited MAU. Hanko also runs a Startup program offering up to one million MAU for free by application.

Feature reality check

Hanko advertises passkeys, email passcodes, OAuth SSO, MFA (TOTP and security keys), passwords, and SAML enterprise SSO. It does not list phone or SMS authentication.
Supabase Auth lists 17-plus named built-in OAuth providers including Apple, Azure, Bitbucket, Discord, Facebook, GitHub, GitLab, Google, Keycloak, LinkedIn, Notion, Twitch, Twitter, Slack, Spotify, WorkOS, and Zoom, plus custom OIDC providers, and it supports phone OTP through Twilio, MessageBird, and Vonage.

Real Cost at Solo-Dev Scale

The two services price overage very differently, and that difference only matters once you cross the free tier. Here is what the same workload costs on each, using the real per-unit rates above.

Scenario A, an app at 25,000 MAU. Supabase stays on the Free plan because 25,000 is under the 50,000 free MAU ceiling, so the cost is $0/month. Hanko Cloud needs Pro at $29/month because 25,000 exceeds the 10,000 free ceiling, and the overage is (25,000 minus 10,000) times $0.01, which is $150. Total is $179/month. If you qualify for Hanko's Startup program (up to one million MAU free, by application), this drops to $0, but that is conditional.

Scenario B, an app at 75,000 MAU. Supabase crosses the 50,000 free ceiling, so you move to Pro at $25/month, and since Pro includes 100,000 MAU you pay nothing extra. Total is $25/month. Hanko Cloud on Pro is $29/month plus (75,000 minus 10,000) times $0.01, which is $650 in overage. Total is $679/month, again before any Startup-program discount.

The takeaway is not that one tool is "expensive." It is that Supabase's free and included-MAU ceilings (50,000 free, 100,000 on Pro) are an order of magnitude higher than Hanko Cloud's (10,000 on both Starter and Pro). For a solo developer whose app is growing, Supabase Auth's metered pricing essentially disappears until you are well past product-market fit. Hanko's metered pricing starts biting much earlier, which is exactly why its self-host story and its Startup program matter so much. If you self-host Hanko, the backend is AGPL-3.0 and you run unlimited users on your own infrastructure, trading the dollar cost for the cost of running a Go binary and a database yourself.

When to Pick Supabase Auth

Supabase Auth is the right choice when you want authentication as part of a broader backend solution:

You are already using Supabase for your database or plan to.
You want row-level security policies for authorization without writing middleware.
Your app needs phone authentication or a wide range of OAuth providers.
You prefer building your own login UI using SDK methods rather than drop-in components.
The broader Supabase ecosystem (storage, edge functions, realtime) adds value to your project.

Supabase Auth is battle-tested across thousands of production apps. The community is large, tutorials are plentiful, and you are unlikely to hit an edge case that nobody has solved before.

When to Pick Hanko

Hanko makes sense when passkeys and passwordless auth are central to your product vision:

You want to offer a truly modern, passwordless-first experience.
Drop-in web components for login and profile management save you from building UI.
You want a lightweight, standalone auth service without buying into a full BaaS.
Self-hosting a single Go binary is appealing compared to managing a larger platform.
You are building for a future where passkeys replace passwords entirely.

Hanko is also a strong pick if you want to keep your architecture modular. It does one thing (authentication) and does it well, without coupling you to a specific database or backend framework.

Verdict

For most solo developers building a standard web or mobile app, Supabase Auth is the safer bet. The ecosystem integration, generous free tier, and proven track record make it the path of least resistance. You get auth that works out of the box alongside your database, storage, and everything else.

Hanko is the pick for developers who care deeply about passkeys and passwordless UX. If you believe passwords are going away and you want your app to lead that transition, Hanko is purpose-built for that future. The drop-in components are genuinely useful, and the self-hosted experience is lighter than most alternatives. Just be aware that the ecosystem is younger and the community is smaller, so you may find yourself reading source code instead of Stack Overflow answers when things get tricky.