Own Auth vs. Lucia
Lucia is a lightweight session library. It handles sessions and leaves everything else to you. Own Auth is a complete auth platform with passwords, magic links, phone login, organisations, and more, all built in.
| Feature | Own Auth | Lucia |
|---|---|---|
| Data ownership | Your database | Your database |
| Open source | Core is open source | Open source |
| Framework lock-in | None | None |
| Self-hostable | Runs in your backend | Runs in your backend |
| Passwords | Built in | You implement |
| Magic links | Built in | You implement |
| Phone / SMS login | Built in | You implement |
| Sessions | Database-backed | Database-backed |
| Organisations | Built in | You implement |
| API keys | Built in | You implement |
| Audit logs | Built in | You implement |
| Rate limiting | Built in | You implement |
| Pricing | Free (core) | Free |
Feature
Data ownership
Own Auth
Your databaseLucia
Your databaseFeature
Open source
Own Auth
Core is open sourceLucia
Open sourceFeature
Framework lock-in
Own Auth
NoneLucia
NoneFeature
Self-hostable
Own Auth
Runs in your backendLucia
Runs in your backendFeature
Passwords
Own Auth
Built inLucia
You implementFeature
Magic links
Own Auth
Built inLucia
You implementFeature
Phone / SMS login
Own Auth
Built inLucia
You implementFeature
Sessions
Own Auth
Database-backedLucia
Database-backedFeature
Organisations
Own Auth
Built inLucia
You implementFeature
API keys
Own Auth
Built inLucia
You implementFeature
Audit logs
Own Auth
Built inLucia
You implementFeature
Rate limiting
Own Auth
Built inLucia
You implementFeature
Pricing
Own Auth
Free (core)Lucia
FreeScope
Lucia intentionally does one thing well: session management. Everything else, including password hashing, email verification, magic links, and rate limiting, is your responsibility. Own Auth gives you all of those out of the box. If you want a minimal building block, Lucia is great. If you want auth solved, Own Auth covers more ground.
Implementation effort
With Lucia, you'll write your own password hashing, email verification flows, rate limiting, and organisation logic. That's real engineering time. Own Auth front-loads those decisions so you can focus on your product instead of re-implementing auth primitives.
Flexibility vs. completeness
Lucia's minimalism is a feature because you make every decision. Own Auth makes opinionated choices (bcrypt for passwords, secure random tokens for sessions) that are hard to get wrong. If you have unusual requirements that don't fit standard patterns, Lucia gives you more room.
Choose Lucia if...
You only need session management, want to implement every other auth primitive yourself, and prefer a minimal library with no opinions.
Choose Own Auth if...
You want a complete auth solution out of the box with passwords, magic links, phone login, organisations, API keys, and audit logs, without building each piece yourself.