Hanko is an open source authentication and user management platform that provides an alternative to commercial services like Auth0, Clerk, and Stytch.
Hanko addresses the need for flexible, privacy-conscious authentication infrastructure by offering support for multiple authentication methods including passwords, passkeys, multi-factor authentication, social logins via OAuth, and SAML enterprise single sign-on. The platform is built on privacy-first principles emphasizing data minimalism and phishing resistance. It provides both a robust API for custom implementations and pre-built Hanko Elements web components for faster integration, allowing developers to choose between framework-agnostic API-first development or ready-made UI solutions.
Teams should consider Hanko if they need self-hosted authentication infrastructure with full control over user data and configuration, or if they prefer a managed cloud service. It suits projects requiring modern passwordless authentication methods, enterprise SSO capabilities, or flexible authentication policies such as passkey-only or OAuth-only modes. The platform is lightweight and cloud-native, making it suitable for containerized deployments. Developers can integrate via the JavaScript SDK and web components or build custom frontends against the authentication API.
The project maintains active development across multiple components with continuous integration testing and code quality checks. The team publishes updates through product news channels and maintains community engagement via Discord. Development includes both the core Go backend and complementary JavaScript packages for frontend integration, with roadmap items under active development including organizations, roles, and permissions features alongside planned mobile SDKs for iOS, Android, React Native, and Flutter.
