What is Hanko used for?

Hanko is an open-source authentication and user management service built around passkeys, with MFA, social login, SAML SSO and web components, self-hosted or on Hanko Cloud. It is a good fit for adding passkey login to a web app, replacing Auth0 or Clerk with open source and enterprise SSO for SaaS products.

Is Hanko open source?

Yes. Hanko is open source under a custom licence. Its source code is on GitHub at teamhanko/hanko and is written mainly in Go.

Yes. Hanko is open source, so the software itself is free to use under the terms of its own licence. A managed cloud version is also available, with paid plans from $29 per month.

Can I self-host Hanko?

Yes. Hanko can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure.

What is Hanko an alternative to?

Hanko is an open-source alternative to Auth0, Stytch, WorkOS and Clerk. Other open-source alternatives to Auth0 include Logto, ZITADEL and SuperTokens.

Is Hanko actively maintained?

Yes. The most recent commit to Hanko was on 2 October 2026. The project has 9k stars on GitHub.

Hanko: open-source alternative to Auth0, Stytch, WorkOS

About Hanko

Hanko is an authentication and user management solution released as open source, framework-agnostic and designed around privacy-first principles such as data minimalism and phishing resistance. It is presented as an alternative to Auth0, Clerk, WorkOS and Stytch, written in Go, with an API-first and lightweight design.

It supports modern sign-in methods including passwords, email passcodes, passkeys, MFA with TOTP and security keys, social logins such as Apple, Google and GitHub, custom OIDC and OAuth connections and SAML enterprise SSO. Configuration is flexible, for example passkey-only or OAuth-only setups, and passwords can be deletable by users. Hanko Elements web components make integration quick, a JS SDK is available, webhooks and server-side sessions with remote revocation are included, and a full API supports custom front ends. Organizations, roles and permissions plus mobile SDKs are on the roadmap.

You can self-host Hanko or use it as a fully managed service on Hanko Cloud. The repository lists the licence as Other, so review the licence file for the terms. It suits developers who want to own their authentication stack without building it from scratch.

Key features

Passkeys, passwords and email passcodes
MFA with TOTP and security keys
Social login and custom OIDC connections
SAML enterprise SSO
Hanko Elements web components
Webhooks and server-side sessions
JS SDK and API-first design

Good fit for

→Adding passkey login to a web app
→Replacing Auth0 or Clerk with open source
→Enterprise SSO for SaaS products

Built with: Go
Tags: authentication; passkeys; webauthn; sso; saml; mfa; user-management; auth0-alternative; golang

Hanko: questions and answers

What is Hanko used for?: Hanko is an open-source authentication and user management service built around passkeys, with MFA, social login, SAML SSO and web components, self-hosted or on Hanko Cloud. It is a good fit for adding passkey login to a web app, replacing Auth0 or Clerk with open source and enterprise SSO for SaaS products.
Is Hanko open source?: Yes. Hanko is open source under a custom licence. Its source code is on GitHub at teamhanko/hanko and is written mainly in Go.
Is Hanko free?: Yes. Hanko is open source, so the software itself is free to use under the terms of its own licence. A managed cloud version is also available, with paid plans from $29 per month.
Can I self-host Hanko?: Yes. Hanko can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure.
What is Hanko an alternative to?: Hanko is an open-source alternative to Auth0, Stytch, WorkOS and Clerk. Other open-source alternatives to Auth0 include Logto, ZITADEL and SuperTokens.
Is Hanko actively maintained?: Yes. The most recent commit to Hanko was on 2 October 2026. The project has 9k stars on GitHub.