Self-Hosted Open-Source Auth: Logto vs SuperTokens vs Ory Kratos (2026)

Managing user authentication and identity is one of the most critical responsibilities for any application. While cloud providers like Auth0, Okta, and AWS Cognito offer turnkey solutions, they come with vendor lock-in, per-MAU pricing, and data residency concerns. Self-hosted open-source authentication platforms give you full control over user data, unlimited users, and complete customization — at the cost of operational overhead.

In this guide, we compare three modern open-source identity platforms: Logto, SuperTokens, and Ory Kratos. Each takes a fundamentally different approach to authentication, making the choice highly dependent on your application architecture and team expertise.

Overview

Logto

Logto is a modern identity provider built on OIDC and OAuth 2.1 standards. It provides a complete authentication experience with a polished admin console, customizable sign-in experience, and built-in multi-tenancy. Logto is designed to be a direct replacement for Auth0 — offering the same developer experience but with the option to self-host.

Key features:

• Native multi-tenancy with organization-level isolation
• Role-based access control (RBAC) with fine-grained permissions
• Customizable sign-in UI with built-in theme editor
• Audit logs and compliance reporting
• SDKs for web, mobile, and backend applications
• Machine-to-machine (M2M) authentication

Docker Compose Deployment

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version: "3.8"
services:
  logto:
    image: svhd/logto:latest
    depends_on:
      postgres:
        condition: service_healthy
    entrypoint: ["sh", "-c", "npm run cli db seed -- --swe && npm run cli db migrate -- --swe && npm start"]
    ports:
      - "3001:3001"
      - "3002:3002"
    environment:
      - TRUST_PROXY_HEADER=1
      - DB_URL=postgresql://logto:logto@postgres:5432/logto
      - ENDPOINT=http://localhost:3001
      - ADMIN_ENDPOINT=http://localhost:3002
    networks:
      - logto-network

  postgres:
    image: postgres:16-alpine
    environment:
      POSTGRES_USER: logto
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: logto
      POSTGRES_DB: logto
    volumes:
      - logto-data:/var/lib/postgresql/data
    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD-SHELL", "pg_isready -U logto"]
      interval: 5s
      timeout: 5s
      retries: 5
    networks:
      - logto-network

networks:
  logto-network:
    driver: bridge

volumes:
  logto-data:

SuperTokens

SuperTokens positions itself as the open-source alternative to Auth0, Firebase Auth, and AWS Cognito with a focus on session management security. Its core differentiator is the session management layer, which uses rotating refresh tokens and anti-CSRF tokens to prevent session hijacking — a significant advantage for security-conscious applications.

Key features:

• Industry-leading session management with rotating refresh tokens
• Built-in user dashboard and admin UI
• Email-password, passwordless (magic link/OTP), and social login
• Multi-tenancy support from the core architecture
• Pre-built UI components for React, Angular, and vanilla JS
• Recipe-based modular architecture (auth, session, user roles)

Docker Compose Deployment

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version: "3.8"
services:
  supertokens:
    image: registry.supertokens.io/supertokens/supertokens-postgresql:latest
    depends_on:
      postgres:
        condition: service_healthy
    ports:
      - "3567:3567"
    environment:
      - POSTGRESQL_HOST=postgres
      - POSTGRESQL_PORT=5432
      - POSTGRESQL_USER=supertokens
      - POSTGRESQL_PASSWORD=supertokens
      - POSTGRESQL_DB_NAME=supertokens
      - API_KEYS=dev-key-change-in-production
    networks:
      - st-network

  postgres:
    image: postgres:16-alpine
    environment:
      POSTGRES_USER: supertokens
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: supertokens
      POSTGRES_DB: supertokens
    volumes:
      - st-data:/var/lib/postgresql/data
    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD-SHELL", "pg_isready -U supertokens"]
      interval: 5s
      timeout: 5s
      retries: 5
    networks:
      - st-network

networks:
  st-network:
    driver: bridge

volumes:
  st-data:

Ory Kratos

Ory Kratos is a headless, API-first identity management system written in Go. Unlike Logto and SuperTokens, Kratos does not provide a built-in UI — it gives you raw API endpoints for registration, login, and account recovery, leaving the UI entirely to your application. This makes it the most flexible but also the most implementation-heavy option.

Key features:

• Headless, API-first design — full UI control
• Identity schema as code (JSON-based configuration)
• Self-service flows: registration, login, settings, recovery, verification
• Webhook integrations for custom logic during identity flows
• Supports Passkeys, TOTP, and lookup codes for MFA
• Horizontal scalability with stateless design

Docker Compose Deployment

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version: "3.8"
services:
  kratos:
    image: oryd/kratos:latest
    depends_on:
      postgres:
        condition: service_healthy
    ports:
      - "4433:4433"
      - "4434:4434"
    command: serve -c /etc/config/kratos.yaml --dev
    volumes:
      - ./kratos.yaml:/etc/config/kratos.yaml
    environment:
      - DSN=postgres://kratos:kratos@postgres:5432/kratos?sslmode=disable
    networks:
      - kratos-network

  kratos-migrate:
    image: oryd/kratos:latest
    depends_on:
      postgres:
        condition: service_healthy
    command: migrate -c /etc/config/kratos.yaml sql -e --yes
    volumes:
      - ./kratos.yaml:/etc/config/kratos.yaml
    environment:
      - DSN=postgres://kratos:kratos@postgres:5432/kratos?sslmode=disable
    networks:
      - kratos-network

  postgres:
    image: postgres:16-alpine
    environment:
      POSTGRES_USER: kratos
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: kratos
      POSTGRES_DB: kratos
    volumes:
      - kratos-data:/var/lib/postgresql/data
    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD-SHELL", "pg_isready -U kratos"]
      interval: 5s
      timeout: 5s
      retries: 5
    networks:
      - kratos-network

networks:
  kratos-network:
    driver: bridge

volumes:
  kratos-data:

Architecture Comparison

The three platforms differ significantly in their architectural philosophy:

• Logto follows the “batteries-included” approach — a complete identity provider with admin UI, sign-in pages, tenant management, and SDKs. You deploy it and start authenticating users immediately.

• SuperTokens uses a “recipe” architecture where each authentication feature (email-password, passwordless, social login, session management) is a modular component. The core server handles session management, while SDKs handle the UI components in your application.

• Ory Kratos is headless by design — it provides only the backend API. You must build your own registration, login, and settings pages. This gives maximum flexibility but requires significantly more development effort.

Choosing the Right Platform

Why Self-Host Your Authentication?

Self-hosting your authentication infrastructure provides several critical advantages over cloud identity providers:

Data ownership and privacy. When you self-host, user credentials, personal data, and authentication logs never leave your infrastructure. This is essential for GDPR compliance, healthcare applications (HIPAA), financial services, and any organization with strict data residency requirements. Cloud providers process and store your users’ identity data on their servers, creating a potential compliance liability.

Eliminating per-user pricing. Auth0 charges $0.0375/MAU on the free tier and up to $3.25/MAU on enterprise plans. For a growing SaaS with 50,000 monthly active users, that’s over $1,600/month. Self-hosted solutions like Logto, SuperTokens, and Ory Kratos are free regardless of user count — your only cost is the infrastructure to run them.

Avoiding vendor lock-in. Cloud identity providers create deep integration dependencies. Migrating away from Auth0 or Okta requires rewriting authentication flows, reconfiguring applications, and re-migrating user data. With self-hosted open-source platforms, you control the codebase and can modify it to fit your evolving needs.

Complete customization. Open-source auth platforms let you customize every aspect of the authentication experience — from password policies and session lifetimes to custom identity schemas and multi-tenant data isolation. Cloud providers often restrict these configurations to their predefined options.

High availability on your terms. With self-hosted deployments, you control the availability architecture. Deploy across multiple regions, set up your own failover, and maintain uptime on your own schedule without depending on a third-party SLA.

For choosing the right SSO solution, see our comprehensive SSO comparison. If you need federated identity with OIDC, check our OIDC SSO guide.

FAQ

What is the difference between Logto, SuperTokens, and Ory Kratos?

Logto is a complete identity provider with built-in UI and admin console, designed as an Auth0 replacement. SuperTokens focuses on secure session management with rotating refresh tokens and provides UI components as SDKs. Ory Kratos is a headless API-first identity system that requires you to build your own authentication UI but offers maximum flexibility.

Can I use these platforms for multi-tenant SaaS applications?

Yes. All three support multi-tenancy, but with different approaches. Logto has native organization-level multi-tenancy built into the admin console. SuperTokens supports multi-tenancy as a core architectural feature with per-tenant configuration. Ory Kratos requires you to implement multi-tenancy through identity schemas and webhook integrations.

Do these platforms support passwordless authentication?

Yes. Logto supports magic link and OTP-based passwordless login. SuperTokens has a dedicated passwordless recipe with magic link and OTP options. Ory Kratos supports passwordless flows through its self-service registration and login flows with custom webhook integrations.

Which platform is easiest to set up for a small team?

Logto is the easiest to set up because it includes a complete admin console and sign-in UI out of the box. You deploy it via Docker Compose and start configuring applications immediately. SuperTokens is the next easiest with pre-built UI components. Ory Kratos requires the most setup effort since you must build your own authentication UI.

Are these platforms production-ready?

Yes, all three are production-ready and used by companies in production. Logto is backed by a venture-funded company and has a managed cloud offering. SuperTokens is used by hundreds of companies and offers enterprise support. Ory Kratos is part of the Ory ecosystem which powers authentication for major enterprises through Ory Network.

How do these compare to Keycloak?

Keycloak is the most established open-source identity provider but has a complex architecture and steep learning curve. Logto, SuperTokens, and Ory Kratos are more modern alternatives with simpler deployment, better developer experience, and more flexible architecture. For a detailed Keycloak comparison, see our Keycloak vs Authentik vs Authelia guide.