If you want roles, sessions, and social login all handled well, the best choice depends on whether you want hosted simplicity or full control.

Best overall for most apps: Auth.js (NextAuth)

Best if you’re building a modern web app and want:

• Social login: Google, GitHub, Discord, etc.
• Sessions: database or JWT sessions
• Roles: you manage them yourself in your DB and attach them to the session/JWT

Why it’s strong

• Open source and flexible
• Great for Next.js / React ecosystems
• Easy social auth
• Sessions are straightforward
• You can model roles exactly how you want

Tradeoff

• Roles/permissions are not fully built-in like in enterprise auth systems
• You need to implement authorization logic yourself

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Best hosted option: Clerk

Best if you want:

• Social login
• Sessions
• Organization/user management
• A smoother out-of-the-box UX

Why it’s strong

• Very polished
• Easy setup
• Built-in session handling
• Good support for orgs and role-like access control
• Great developer experience

Tradeoff

• More expensive as you scale
• More vendor lock-in than Auth.js

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Best for enterprise / complex role management: Auth0

Best if you need:

• Advanced RBAC/permissions
• Enterprise identity features
• SSO/SAML/OIDC
• Social login
• Hosted sessions and strong admin tools

Why it’s strong

• Mature and feature-rich
• Great for larger apps and enterprises
• Robust role/permission tooling

Tradeoff

• Can get expensive
• More complex than you need for a small app

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Best if you want open source + hosted/self-hosted flexibility: Supabase Auth

Best if you already use Supabase and want:

• Social login
• Sessions
• A decent built-in auth layer

Tradeoff

• Role management is usually something you build on top
• Less polished than Clerk/Auth0 for auth UX

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Quick recommendation

Choose Auth.js if:

• You’re okay managing roles yourself
• You want control and low cost
• You’re on Next.js

Choose Clerk if:

• You want the easiest “works out of the box” experience
• You want good sessions + social login + user/org management

Choose Auth0 if:

• You need serious role/enterprise features
• You expect SSO, SAML, or more advanced access control

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My short answer

• Best balance for most apps: Clerk
• Best open-source / flexible option: Auth.js
• Best enterprise RBAC: Auth0

If you tell me your stack (Next.js, React, mobile, backend language, database), I can recommend the best one for your exact use case.