Auth0 and Firebase are both widely used services for managing authentication and authorization in web and mobile applications. Here are the key differences between them:\n\n
\n
Backend Integration: Auth0 focuses on providing authentication and authorization as a standalone service, which means it can be easily integrated with any backend technology or framework. On the other hand, Firebase offers a comprehensive backend-as-a-service (BaaS) solution that includes authentication as one of its many features. This means that Firebase is tightly coupled with its own backend infrastructure and may require more effort to integrate with a non-Firebase backend.\n
Identity Providers: Auth0 offers a vast array of pre-built identity providers such as social logins (Facebook, Google, etc.), enterprise providers (Azure AD, Active Directory, etc.), and more. This allows developers to easily enable login options for their users. In contrast, Firebase primarily focuses on social logins and Google accounts, limiting the number of pre-built identity providers available out of the box.\n
Customization: Auth0 provides extensive customization options, allowing developers to tailor the authentication process to their specific requirements. It offers advanced features like custom login screens, password policies, multi-factor authentication, and more. Firebase, while providing some level of customization, is more opinionated and may not offer the same level of flexibility as Auth0.\n
Scalability and Performance: Auth0 is built to handle authentication at scale and is designed to handle millions of users and requests. It offers global data centers and can be easily scaled to accommodate growing user bases. Firebase, being part of the Google Cloud Platform, also offers high scalability and performance, but it may have some limitations compared to Auth0 when it comes to handling extremely high volumes of authentication traffic.\n
Pricing Model: Auth0 has a pricing model based on the number of active users, allowing flexibility for organizations to pay based on usage. Firebase, on the other hand, offers a variety of pricing plans that are primarily focused on usage, storage, and additional features. Some organizations may find Auth0's pricing model more suitable for their needs, while others may prefer Firebase's more predictable pricing structure.\n
Additional Features: While authentication is the core focus of Auth0, it also offers additional features like user management, OAuth and OIDC support, anomaly detection, and more. Firebase, as a complete BaaS solution, offers a wider range of additional features including real-time database, cloud messaging, storage, hosting, and more. This makes Firebase a more all-in-one solution for developers who require a comprehensive suite of cloud services along with authentication.\n\n\n
In summary, Auth0 is a standalone identity-as-a-service solution, providing flexible authentication and authorization services, while Firebase, part of Google Cloud, offers a comprehensive mobile and web development platform with integrated authentication and real-time database services.\n","content2":"","topContent":"","bottomContent":"","packageStackup":false,"screenshotImageUrl":"https://img.stackshare.io/stackup/6492745/auth0-vs-firebase.png","function":"Realtime Backend / API","path":"/stackups/auth0-vs-firebase","title":"Auth0 vs Firebase","seoUpdatedAt":null,"cachedStackDecisionsGetAdvice":{"type":"json","json":{"count":2,"edges":[{"node":{"id":"104527071859545650","user":{"id":"104073152874704441","title":null,"imageUrl":"https://img.stackshare.io/user/550650/default_8402879815c5311f0d757272b780fff4b918dc0e.jpg","thumbUrl":"https://img.stackshare.io/user/550650/thumb_8402879815c5311f0d757272b780fff4b918dc0e.jpg","username":"dragoon","__typename":"User","companyName":null,"displayName":"Vaibhav S"},"stack":null,"topics":[],"answers":{"count":1,"edges":[{"node":{"id":"104556113472408962","link":null,"user":{"id":"104274964042776730","path":"/puneetjindal3144","title":null,"imageUrl":"https://img.stackshare.io/user/614006/default_0cc098111fcc689266115cd285c49a08bf3f04ba.jpg","username":"puneetjindal3144","__typename":"User","companyName":null,"displayName":"Puneet Jindal"},"draft":false,"topics":[],"company":null,"flagged":false,"private":false,"toTools":[],"upvoted":false,"publicId":"104556113472408962","services":[{"id":"104559975850840120","fans":86,"name":"Casbin","path":"/casbin","slug":"casbin","title":"An authorization library that supports access control models like ACL, RBAC, ABAC in Golang","votes":0,"stacks":27,"imageUrl":"https://img.stackshare.io/service/12690/T0Sj0TsI_400x400.jpg","verified":false,"following":false,"__typename":"Tool","canonicalUrl":"/casbin","followContext":null}],"createdAt":"2020-07-22T06:34:40Z","fromTools":[],"viewCount":213975,"__typename":"StackDecision","bookmarked":false,"rawContent":"I would recommend Auth0 only if you are willing to shell out money. You can keep up with their free version only for a very limited time and as per our experience as a growing startup where budget is an issue, their support was not very helpful as they first asked us to sign a commercial agreement even before helping us t o find out whether Auth0 fits our use case or not! But otherwise Auth0 is a great platform to speed up authentication. In our case we had to move to alternatives like @{Casbin}|tool:12690| for multi-tenant authorization!","htmlContent":"
I would recommend Auth0 only if you are willing to shell out money. You can keep up with their free version only for a very limited time and as per our experience as a growing startup where budget is an issue, their support was not very helpful as they first asked us to sign a commercial agreement even before helping us t o find out whether Auth0 fits our use case or not! But otherwise Auth0 is a great platform to speed up authentication. In our case we had to move to alternatives like Casbin for multi-tenant authorization!","permissions":{"edit":false,"delete":false,"__typename":"Permissions"},"publishedAt":"2020-07-22T06:34:40Z","decisionType":"giveAdvice","rootComments":[{"id":"104570195876031253","user":{"id":"104073152874704441","path":"/dragoon","imageUrl":"https://img.stackshare.io/user/550650/default_8402879815c5311f0d757272b780fff4b918dc0e.jpg","__typename":"User","displayName":"Vaibhav S"},"content":"Thanks for sharing Puneet! What would you recommend for a case where we need only 2FA or MFA, and no social logins?","flagged":false,"replies":[],"upvoted":false,"parentId":null,"postedAt":"2020-07-24T18:16:01Z","__typename":"Comment","upvotesCount":2}],"subjectTools":[{"id":"101231773678588190","fans":2512,"name":"Auth0","path":"/auth0","slug":"auth0","title":"Token-based Single Sign On for your Apps and APIs with social, databases and enterprise identities","votes":215,"stacks":1330,"imageUrl":"https://img.stackshare.io/service/601/5Nm3jtVh.jpeg","verified":true,"following":false,"__typename":"Tool","canonicalUrl":"/auth0","followContext":null}],"upvotesCount":6,"commentsCount":1},"__typename":"StackDecisionEdge"}],"pageInfo":{"endCursor":"MQ","__typename":"PageInfo","hasNextPage":false},"__typename":"StackDecisionConnection"},"company":null,"private":false,"toTools":[],"publicId":"104527071859545650","services":[],"fromTools":[],"viewCount":215775,"__typename":"StackDecision","htmlContent":"
Currently, Passport.js repo has 324 open issues, and Jared (the original author) seems to be the one doing most of the work. Also, given that the documentation is not proper. Is it worth using Passport.js? \n\n
As of now, StackShare shows it has 29 companies using it. How do you implement auth in your project or your company? Are there any good alternatives to Passport.js? Should I implement auth from scratch?","publishedAt":"2020-07-17T03:29:00Z","decisionType":"getAdvice","subjectTools":[{"id":"101231773678588190","fans":2512,"name":"Auth0","path":"/auth0","slug":"auth0","title":"Token-based Single Sign On for your Apps and APIs with social, databases and enterprise identities","votes":215,"stacks":1330,"imageUrl":"https://img.stackshare.io/service/601/5Nm3jtVh.jpeg","verified":true,"following":false,"__typename":"Tool","canonicalUrl":"/auth0","followContext":null},{"id":"101231775090514116","fans":561,"name":"Passport","path":"/passport","slug":"passport","title":"Simple, unobtrusive authentication for Node.js","votes":0,"stacks":374,"imageUrl":"https://ucarecdn.com/8f3cac0e-b146-4f0f-878c-680a6671d804/","verified":false,"following":false,"__typename":"Tool","canonicalUrl":"/passport","followContext":null}],"upvotesCount":6},"__typename":"StackDecisionEdge"},{"node":{"id":"104523431071745682","user":{"id":"104016930033103313","title":"","imageUrl":"https://img.stackshare.io/user/523590/default_2a2c7d03115ed50a9fd5d3d4e4a42b76250aa5d0.jpg","thumbUrl":"https://img.stackshare.io/user/523590/thumb_2a2c7d03115ed50a9fd5d3d4e4a42b76250aa5d0.jpg","username":"shemeshno1328","__typename":"User","companyName":"","displayName":"Noam Shemesh"},"stack":null,"topics":[],"answers":{"count":3,"edges":[{"node":{"id":"104530864987716080","link":null,"user":{"id":"104338567664361183","path":"/timmalstead7117","title":"Junior Full Stack Developer","imageUrl":"https://img.stackshare.io/user/627921/default_4dd39918afe8c76029b2d0e69a2afc93ed262804.jpg","username":"timmalstead7117","__typename":"User","companyName":"Freelance","displayName":"Timothy Malstead"},"draft":false,"topics":[],"company":null,"flagged":false,"private":false,"toTools":[],"upvoted":false,"publicId":"104530864987716080","services":[],"createdAt":"2020-07-17T19:33:39Z","fromTools":[],"viewCount":496536,"__typename":"StackDecision","bookmarked":false,"rawContent":"I would recommend looking hard into `Firebase` for this project, especially if you do not have dedicated full-stack or backend members on your team. \n\nThe real time database, as you mentioned, is a great option, but I would also look into `Firestore`. Similar to RTDB, it adds more functions and some cool methods as well. Also, another great thing about Firebase is you have easy access to storage and dead simple auth as well.\n\n`Node.js` `Express` `MongoDB` `Socket.IO` and `Apollo` are great technologies as well, and may be the better option if you do not wish to cede as much control to third parties in your application.\n\nOverall, I say if you wish to focus more time developing your `React` application instead of other parts of your stack, `Firebase` is a great way to do that.\n\n","htmlContent":"
I would recommend looking hard into Firebase for this project, especially if you do not have dedicated full-stack or backend members on your team. \n\n
The real time database, as you mentioned, is a great option, but I would also look into Firestore. Similar to RTDB, it adds more functions and some cool methods as well. Also, another great thing about Firebase is you have easy access to storage and dead simple auth as well.\n\n
Node.js Express MongoDB Socket.IO and Apollo are great technologies as well, and may be the better option if you do not wish to cede as much control to third parties in your application.\n\n
Overall, I say if you wish to focus more time developing your React application instead of other parts of your stack, Firebase is a great way to do that.","permissions":{"edit":false,"delete":false,"__typename":"Permissions"},"publishedAt":"2020-07-17T19:33:39Z","decisionType":"giveAdvice","rootComments":[{"id":"104553827718297411","user":{"id":"104012505499799972","path":"/akay25","imageUrl":"https://img.stackshare.io/user/521100/default_588b195ea0de9d516409a43c00d431ef6a594f27.jpeg","__typename":"User","displayName":"Ajay M"},"content":"I totally agree with you.\nThe only issue is most features of firebase are paid (and from my perspective costly) which could be a concern when the app grows and they might need to migrate which would be a lot of work.\n\nBut if it's only a prototyping then it's all good.","flagged":false,"replies":[{"id":"104554117668597319","user":{"id":"104338567664361183","path":"/timmalstead7117","imageUrl":"https://img.stackshare.io/user/627921/default_4dd39918afe8c76029b2d0e69a2afc93ed262804.jpg","__typename":"User","displayName":"Timothy Malstead"},"content":"I hear you. I honestly haven't looked into hosting costs of Firebase vs Express/Mongo much.","flagged":false,"upvoted":false,"parentId":"104553827718297411","postedAt":"2020-07-21T22:07:07Z","__typename":"Comment","upvotesCount":1}],"upvoted":false,"parentId":null,"postedAt":"2020-07-21T20:53:22Z","__typename":"Comment","upvotesCount":1}],"subjectTools":[{"id":"101231773461393493","fans":41882,"name":"Firebase","path":"/firebase","slug":"firebase","title":"The Realtime App Platform","votes":1967,"stacks":41520,"imageUrl":"https://img.stackshare.io/service/116/cZLxNFZS.jpg","verified":true,"following":false,"__typename":"Tool","canonicalUrl":"/firebase","followContext":null}],"upvotesCount":7,"commentsCount":2},"__typename":"StackDecisionEdge"},{"node":{"id":"105298842822880873","link":null,"user":{"id":"105122967981281531","path":"/ramirond","title":null,"imageUrl":"https://img.stackshare.io/user/779160/default_09741be529bbe4130c9065d68bac863e34631ca8.png","username":"ramirond","__typename":"User","companyName":null,"displayName":"Ramiro Nuñez Dosio"},"draft":false,"topics":[],"company":null,"flagged":false,"private":false,"toTools":[],"upvoted":false,"publicId":"105298842822880873","services":[],"createdAt":"2020-11-30T10:40:31Z","fromTools":[],"viewCount":382701,"__typename":"StackDecision","bookmarked":false,"rawContent":"\nHello Noam 👋,\n\nI suggest taking a look at [Ably](https://www.ably.com/), it has all the realtime features you need and the platform is designed to guarantee critical functionality at scale.\n\nHere is an in depth [comparison between Ably and Firebase](https://www.ably.io/compare/ably-vs-firebase/?utm_source=stackshare&utm_medium=advice&utm_campaign=cc-ably-firebase)","htmlContent":"
Auth0 and Firebase are both widely used services for managing authentication and authorization in web and mobile applications. Here are the key differences between them:
Backend Integration: Auth0 focuses on providing authentication and authorization as a standalone service, which means it can be easily integrated with any backend technology or framework. On the other hand, Firebase offers a comprehensive backend-as-a-service (BaaS) solution that includes authentication as one of its many features. This means that Firebase is tightly coupled with its own backend infrastructure and may require more effort to integrate with a non-Firebase backend.
Identity Providers: Auth0 offers a vast array of pre-built identity providers such as social logins (Facebook, Google, etc.), enterprise providers (Azure AD, Active Directory, etc.), and more. This allows developers to easily enable login options for their users. In contrast, Firebase primarily focuses on social logins and Google accounts, limiting the number of pre-built identity providers available out of the box.
Customization: Auth0 provides extensive customization options, allowing developers to tailor the authentication process to their specific requirements. It offers advanced features like custom login screens, password policies, multi-factor authentication, and more. Firebase, while providing some level of customization, is more opinionated and may not offer the same level of flexibility as Auth0.
Scalability and Performance: Auth0 is built to handle authentication at scale and is designed to handle millions of users and requests. It offers global data centers and can be easily scaled to accommodate growing user bases. Firebase, being part of the Google Cloud Platform, also offers high scalability and performance, but it may have some limitations compared to Auth0 when it comes to handling extremely high volumes of authentication traffic.
Pricing Model: Auth0 has a pricing model based on the number of active users, allowing flexibility for organizations to pay based on usage. Firebase, on the other hand, offers a variety of pricing plans that are primarily focused on usage, storage, and additional features. Some organizations may find Auth0's pricing model more suitable for their needs, while others may prefer Firebase's more predictable pricing structure.
Additional Features: While authentication is the core focus of Auth0, it also offers additional features like user management, OAuth and OIDC support, anomaly detection, and more. Firebase, as a complete BaaS solution, offers a wider range of additional features including real-time database, cloud messaging, storage, hosting, and more. This makes Firebase a more all-in-one solution for developers who require a comprehensive suite of cloud services along with authentication.
In summary, Auth0 is a standalone identity-as-a-service solution, providing flexible authentication and authorization services, while Firebase, part of Google Cloud, offers a comprehensive mobile and web development platform with integrated authentication and real-time database services.
Currently, Passport.js repo has 324 open issues, and Jared (the original author) seems to be the one doing most of the work. Also, given that the documentation is not proper. Is it worth using Passport.js?
As of now, StackShare shows it has 29 companies using it. How do you implement auth in your project or your company? Are there any good alternatives to Passport.js? Should I implement auth from scratch?
I would recommend Auth0 only if you are willing to shell out money. You can keep up with their free version only for a very limited time and as per our experience as a growing startup where budget is an issue, their support was not very helpful as they first asked us to sign a commercial agreement even before helping us t o find out whether Auth0 fits our use case or not! But otherwise Auth0 is a great platform to speed up authentication. In our case we had to move to alternatives like Casbin for multi-tenant authorization!
We are starting to work on a web-based platform aiming to connect artists (clients) and professional freelancers (service providers). In-app, timeline-based, real-time communication between users (& storing it), file transfers, and push notifications are essential core features. We are considering using Node.js, ExpressJS, React, MongoDB stack with Socket.IO & Apollo, or maybe using Real-Time Database and functionalities of Firebase.
I would recommend looking hard into Firebase for this project, especially if you do not have dedicated full-stack or backend members on your team.
The real time database, as you mentioned, is a great option, but I would also look into Firestore. Similar to RTDB, it adds more functions and some cool methods as well. Also, another great thing about Firebase is you have easy access to storage and dead simple auth as well.
Node.jsExpressMongoDBSocket.IO and Apollo are great technologies as well, and may be the better option if you do not wish to cede as much control to third parties in your application.
Overall, I say if you wish to focus more time developing your React application instead of other parts of your stack, Firebase is a great way to do that.
I would recommend you to take a look into 8base. It has features you've requested, also relation database and GraphQL API which will help you to develop rapidly.
I started our team on Amazon Cognito because I was a Solutions Architect at AWS and found it really easy to follow the tutorials and get a basic app up and running with it.
When our team started working with it, they very quickly became frustrated because of the poor documentation. After 4 days of trying to get all the basic passwordless auth working, our lead engineer made the decision to abandon it and try Auth0... and managed to get everything implemented in 4 hours.
The consensus was that Cognito just isn't mature enough or well-documented, and that the implementation does not cater for real world use cases the way that it should. I believe Amplify has made some of this simpler, but I would still recommend Auth0 as it's been bulletproof for us, and is a sensible price.
Great documentation, samples, UX and Angular support
2
Polished
2
On-premise deployment
1
Will sign BAA for HIPAA-compliance
1
MFA
1
Active Directory support
1
Springboot
1
SOC2
1
SAML Support
1
Great support
1
OpenID Connect (OIDC) Support
Pros of Firebase
371
Realtime backend made easy
270
Fast and responsive
242
Easy setup
215
Real-time
191
JSON
134
Free
128
Backed by google
83
Angular adaptor
68
Reliable
36
Great customer support
32
Great documentation
25
Real-time synchronization
21
Mobile friendly
19
Rapid prototyping
14
Great security
12
Automatic scaling
11
Freakingly awesome
8
Super fast development
8
Angularfire is an amazing addition!
8
Chat
6
Firebase hosting
6
Built in user auth/oauth
6
Awesome next-gen backend
6
Ios adaptor
4
Speed of light
4
Very easy to use
3
Great
3
It's made development super fast
3
Brilliant for startups
2
Free hosting
2
Cloud functions
2
JS Offline and Sync suport
2
Low battery consumption
2
.net
2
The concurrent updates create a great experience
2
Push notification
2
I can quickly create static web apps with no backend
2
Great all-round functionality
2
Free authentication solution
1
Easy Reactjs integration
1
Google's support
1
Free SSL
1
CDN &Â cache out of the box
1
Easy to use
1
Large
1
Faster workflow
1
Serverless
1
Good Free Limits
1
Simple and easy
Sign up to add or upvote prosMake informed product decisions
Cons of Auth0
Cons of Firebase
Cons of Auth0
15
Pricing too high (Developer Pro)
7
Poor support
4
Rapidly changing API
4
Status page not reflect actual status
Cons of Firebase
31
Can become expensive
16
No open source, you depend on external company
15
Scalability is not infinite
9
Not Flexible Enough
7
Cant filter queries
3
Very unstable server
3
No Relational Data
2
Too many errors
2
No offline sync
Sign up to add or upvote consMake informed product decisions
What is Auth0?
A set of unified APIs and tools that instantly enables Single Sign On and user management to all your applications.
What is Firebase?
Firebase is a cloud service designed to power real-time, collaborative applications. Simply add the Firebase library to your application to gain access to a shared data structure; any changes you make to that data are automatically synchronized with the Firebase cloud and with other clients within milliseconds.
Need advice about which tool to choose?Ask the StackShare community!
Stormpath is an authentication and user management service that helps development teams quickly and securely build web and mobile applications and services.
Amazon Cognito
You can create unique identities for your users through a number of public login providers (Amazon, Facebook, and Google) and also support unauthenticated guests. You can save app data locally on users’ devices allowing your applications to work even when the devices are offline.
Okta
Connect all your apps in days, not months, with instant access to thousands of pre-built integrations - even add apps to the network yourself. Integrations are easy to set up, constantly monitored, proactively repaired and handle authentication and provisioning.
Keycloak
It is an Open Source Identity and Access Management For Modern Applications and Services. It adds authentication to applications and secure services with minimum fuss. No need to deal with storing users or authenticating users. It's all available out of the box.
OAuth.io
OAuth is a protocol that aimed to provide a single secure recipe to manage authorizations. It is now used by almost every web application. However, 30+ different implementations coexist. OAuth.io fixes this massive problem by acting as a universal adapter, thanks to a robust API. With OAuth.io integrating OAuth takes minutes instead of hours or days.
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