NextAuth.js vs Lucia

At a Glance

NextAuth.js

Lucia

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

Get the next comparison in your inbox

Weekly digest — no spam, unsubscribe anytime.

Lucia

Pros

Extremely lightweight and gives you full control over sessions and auth logic without any magic happening behind the scenes+148
Framework agnostic — works with SvelteKit, Astro, Nuxt, and vanilla Node.js equally well with the same core logic+134
You can audit every line of code since it's open source and the codebase is small enough to actually read+109
No external service dependency means auth works as long as your own server works — no third-party SLA to worry about+96

Cons

More boilerplate required than hosted solutions — you're responsible for building password reset, email verification, and MFA yourself+142
Documentation is good but not comprehensive — complex scenarios like organization-based access control require figuring things out yourself+118
No prebuilt UI components so the visual auth flow is entirely your problem to design and build+87
Smaller community means fewer answers on Stack Overflow and Google — you'll spend more time in GitHub Discussions+73