Auth.js, formerly known as NextAuth.js, is now being maintained and overseen by Better Auth team
We’re excited to announce that Auth.js , formerly known as NextAuth.js, is now being maintained and overseen by Better Auth team. If you haven't heard of Auth.js, it has long been one of the most widely used open source authentication libraries in the JavaScript ecosystem. Chances are, if you’ve used ChatGPT , Google Labs , Cal.com or a million other websites, you’ve already interacted with Auth.js.
Before Better Auth, Auth.js gave developers like us the ability to own our auth without spending months wrestling with OAuth integrations or session management. But as applications became more complex and authentication needs evolved, some of its limitations became harder to ignore. We found ourselves rebuilding the same primitives over and over.
The Auth.js team recognized these challenges and had big ideas for the future, but for various reasons couldn’t execute them as fully as they hoped.
That shared frustration and the vision of empowering everyone to truly own their auth started the creation of Better Auth. Since our goals aligned with the Auth.js team, we were excited to help maintain Auth.js and make auth better across the web. As we talked more, we realized that Better Auth was the best home for Auth.js.
We recognize how important this project is for countless applications, companies, and developers. If you’re using Auth.js/NextAuth.js today, you can continue doing so without disruption—we’ll keep addressing security patches and urgent issues as they come up.
But we strongly recommend new projects to start with Better Auth unless there are some very specific feature gaps (most notably stateless session management without a database). Our roadmap includes bringing those capabilities into Better Auth, so the ecosystem can converge rather than fragment.
For teams considering migration, we’ve prepared a guide and we’ll be adding more guides and documentation soon.
We are deeply grateful to the Auth.js community who have carried the project to this point. In particular, the core maintainers-Balázs , who served as lead maintainer, Thang Vu ,Nico Domino , Lluis Agusti and Falco Winkler -pushed through difficult phases, brought in new primitives, and kept the project alive long enough for this transition to even be possible.
Better Auth beginning was inspired by Auth.js, and now, together, the two projects can carry the ecosystem further. The end goal remains unchanged: you should own your auth!