Authorizer vs Supabase Auth
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted identity & sso options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Authorizer | Supabase Auth |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 85 · Excellent | 87 · Excellent |
| Category | Identity & SSO | Identity & SSO |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Language | Go | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary | docker, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 2,007 | ★ 2,569 |
| First released | 2021 | 2017 |
| Replaces | Auth0, Firebase Authentication | Auth0 |
What are Authorizer and Supabase Auth?
Authorizer
Authorizer is a self-hosted authentication and authorization service that provides social login, email and OTP login, and roles through a GraphQL API. It ships with prebuilt login pages and SDKs.
- Social and email login
- GraphQL auth API
- Prebuilt login UI
- Role-based access control
Supabase Auth
GoTrue is a lightweight JSON Web Token based authentication API for managing users and sessions, originally from Netlify and extended by Supabase. It is self-hosted as a small Go service.
- JWT-based auth API
- Email and OAuth login
- Lightweight Go service
- Self-hostable
Authorizer vs Supabase Auth: key differences
Both projects are written in Go. Licensing differs — Apache-2.0 for Authorizer versus MIT for Supabase Auth. Supabase Auth is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 256 MB for Authorizer. Supabase Auth is the more established project (first released 2017), while Authorizer arrived in 2021.
Why pick each one
Choose Authorizer if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (2k GitHub stars)
Choose Supabase Auth if…
- Released under the MIT license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (2.6k GitHub stars)
- Written in Go
Frequently asked questions
Is Authorizer or Supabase Auth better?
Neither is universally better. Supabase Auth has the larger community, while Authorizer is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Authorizer and Supabase Auth free and open-source?
Yes. Authorizer is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Supabase Auth under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Authorizer and Supabase Auth with Docker?
Authorizer: yes. Supabase Auth: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Authorizer or Supabase Auth?
Supabase Auth has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for Authorizer. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.