Ory Kratos 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.
Not the right match-up?
Ory Kratos
Headless identity and user management API server
VS
Supabase Auth
Small JWT-based user authentication API service
| Feature | Ory Kratos | Supabase Auth |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Identity & SSO | Identity & SSO |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Language | Go | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | docker, kubernetes, binary | docker, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 13,815 | ★ 2,513 |
| First released | 2020 | 2017 |
| Replaces | Auth0, Firebase Auth | Auth0 |
Why pick each one
Choose Ory Kratos if…
- Extremely flexible architecture
- Excellent for custom frontends
Choose Supabase Auth if…
- Released under the MIT license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (2.5k GitHub stars)
- Written in Go
Frequently asked questions
Is Ory Kratos or Supabase Auth better?
Neither is universally better. Ory Kratos has the larger community, while Supabase Auth is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Ory Kratos and Supabase Auth free and open-source?
Yes. Ory Kratos is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Supabase Auth under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Ory Kratos and Supabase Auth with Docker?
Ory Kratos: yes. Supabase Auth: yes.