NextAuth.js vs Kinde

At a Glance

NextAuth.js

Kinde

NextAuth.js

Pros

Completely free and open source — no MAU limits, no pricing tiers, no vendor lock-in regardless of how large your app grows+184
Deep Next.js integration means session is available server-side in getServerSideProps, API routes, and App Router with minimal setup+162
Huge community and ecosystem means every common provider (Google, GitHub, Discord) has a working example you can copy+138
You own your session data since it stores in your own database — GDPR compliance is much simpler when you control everything+119

Cons

The configuration is complex and the documentation has gaps that require reading source code or GitHub issues to resolve edge cases

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Kinde

Pros

Generous free tier at 10,500 MAU with no credit card required, and the pricing is more transparent than Auth0 or Clerk+152
The dashboard is clean and intuitive — you can get a new OAuth app connected in under 5 minutes without reading any docs+137
Feature flagging is built in alongside auth, which saves setting up a separate tool like LaunchDarkly for early-stage products+118
Machine-to-machine auth for API tokens is well implemented and the docs cover it clearly+96

Cons

SDK and documentation coverage is thinner than Clerk or Auth0 — you'll hit undocumented scenarios that require support tickets+124
Custom claims and advanced role configurations can be unintuitive to set up compared to more mature auth platforms+98
The product is still maturing and has had breaking changes to SDKs that required migration with little notice+81