What should I use for social login in a web app?

For most web apps, the best default choice is:

Use OAuth 2.0 / OpenID Connect (OIDC) with a managed identity provider
Examples: Auth0, Clerk, Firebase Auth, AWS Cognito, Supabase Auth, Azure AD B2C, Okta

Quick recommendation

• If you want fastest implementation: use a hosted auth service like Clerk or Auth0
• If you already use Google/Apple/Microsoft logins only: use OIDC social providers through your auth service
• If you need enterprise SSO too: choose Auth0 / Okta / Azure AD B2C
• If you want to build it yourself: implement OAuth 2.0 Authorization Code Flow with PKCE and OIDC for identity

What to avoid

• Do not use password-based “social login”
• Do not use OAuth implicit flow
• Do not handle tokens in localStorage if you can avoid it; prefer secure cookies/session handling

Best practice architecture

1. User clicks “Continue with Google”
2. Redirect to provider using Authorization Code Flow + PKCE
3. Your backend exchanges the code for tokens
4. Backend creates a local session
5. App uses that session to authenticate requests

Which provider to support?

Common choices:

• Google: highest coverage for consumer apps
• Apple: important if you have iOS users or privacy-sensitive audience
• Microsoft: useful for B2B
• GitHub: great for developer tools
• Facebook/X: only if your audience actually uses them

My practical advice

If you’re building a typical startup web app, I’d pick:

Clerk if you want the simplest dev experience
Auth0 if you want flexibility and enterprise options
Firebase Auth if you’re already in Google/Firebase ecosystem

If you want, I can also recommend the best choice based on your stack (React, Next.js, Django, etc.) and whether your app is consumer or B2B.