@firebase/auth vs @aws-amplify/auth vs auth0-js
Authentication Libraries for Web Development Comparison
1 Year
@firebase/auth@aws-amplify/authauth0-js
What's Authentication Libraries for Web Development?

Authentication libraries are essential tools for managing user authentication and authorization in web applications. They provide developers with pre-built functionalities to handle user sign-up, sign-in, password recovery, and session management, allowing for secure access to application resources. These libraries often integrate with various identity providers and offer features like social login, multi-factor authentication, and user management, streamlining the development process and enhancing security.

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@firebase/auth2,514,3694,91515.4 MB6586 days agoApache-2.0
@aws-amplify/auth877,2049,4783.19 MB56711 hours agoApache-2.0
auth0-js215,1651,0095.32 MB174 months agoMIT
Feature Comparison: @firebase/auth vs @aws-amplify/auth vs auth0-js

Integration with Cloud Services

  • @firebase/auth:

    @firebase/auth integrates tightly with Firebase's suite of services, enabling developers to use real-time database features alongside authentication. This makes it easy to build applications that require both user authentication and real-time data updates, such as chat applications or collaborative tools.

  • @aws-amplify/auth:

    @aws-amplify/auth is designed to work seamlessly with AWS services, allowing developers to leverage AWS Cognito for user authentication and authorization. This integration provides a powerful backend for managing user sessions and data, making it ideal for applications hosted on AWS.

  • auth0-js:

    auth0-js offers integration with a wide range of third-party services and identity providers, allowing developers to implement social logins and enterprise identity solutions easily. This flexibility makes it suitable for applications that need to support multiple authentication methods.

User Management Features

  • @firebase/auth:

    @firebase/auth offers user management features such as email/password authentication, social media logins, and anonymous authentication. It also includes built-in support for account linking and user profile management, making it easy to handle different user scenarios.

  • @aws-amplify/auth:

    @aws-amplify/auth provides comprehensive user management features, including user sign-up, sign-in, password recovery, and account verification. It also supports multi-factor authentication and customizable user attributes, making it suitable for applications that require robust user management capabilities.

  • auth0-js:

    auth0-js provides extensive user management features, including user roles, permissions, and profile management. It allows for easy implementation of multi-factor authentication and supports various identity providers, making it ideal for applications with complex user management needs.

Security Features

  • @firebase/auth:

    @firebase/auth includes built-in security features such as email verification, password reset flows, and secure token management. It also supports Firebase's security rules to control access to data based on user authentication status.

  • @aws-amplify/auth:

    @aws-amplify/auth emphasizes security with features like multi-factor authentication, secure token storage, and automatic session management. It adheres to AWS security best practices, ensuring that user data is protected and compliant with industry standards.

  • auth0-js:

    auth0-js offers advanced security features, including anomaly detection, brute force protection, and support for OAuth 2.0 and OpenID Connect protocols. This makes it suitable for applications that require high levels of security and compliance.

Customization and Extensibility

  • @firebase/auth:

    @firebase/auth provides a flexible API that allows developers to customize authentication flows and integrate with existing user management systems. However, it may require additional setup for more complex use cases.

  • @aws-amplify/auth:

    @aws-amplify/auth allows for customization of authentication flows and UI components, enabling developers to tailor the user experience to their application's needs. It also supports custom authentication providers, enhancing its extensibility.

  • auth0-js:

    auth0-js is highly customizable, allowing developers to define their authentication flows, customize the login UI, and integrate with various identity providers. Its extensibility makes it suitable for applications with unique authentication requirements.

Learning Curve

  • @firebase/auth:

    @firebase/auth is relatively easy to learn, especially for developers already familiar with Firebase. Its straightforward API and comprehensive documentation make it accessible for beginners.

  • @aws-amplify/auth:

    @aws-amplify/auth has a moderate learning curve, especially for developers unfamiliar with AWS services. However, its extensive documentation and community support can help ease the onboarding process.

  • auth0-js:

    auth0-js has a steeper learning curve due to its extensive feature set and customization options. However, its documentation is thorough, providing guidance for developers to implement complex authentication scenarios.

How to Choose: @firebase/auth vs @aws-amplify/auth vs auth0-js
  • @firebase/auth:

    Choose @firebase/auth if you are developing applications that require real-time data synchronization and a flexible, scalable backend. Firebase Authentication offers easy integration with other Firebase services, supports various authentication methods, and is particularly beneficial for mobile and web applications that need quick setup and deployment.

  • @aws-amplify/auth:

    Choose @aws-amplify/auth if you are building applications on AWS and need a comprehensive solution that integrates seamlessly with other AWS services. It provides a robust set of features for user authentication, including support for social logins and multi-factor authentication, making it ideal for applications that require a scalable backend.

  • auth0-js:

    Choose auth0-js if you need a highly customizable authentication solution that supports a wide range of identity providers and social logins. Auth0 provides extensive features for user management, security, and compliance, making it suitable for applications with complex authentication requirements or those that need to integrate with multiple identity providers.

README for @firebase/auth

@firebase/auth

This is the Firebase Authentication component of the Firebase JS SDK.

This package is not intended for direct usage, and should only be used via the officially supported firebase package.

Testing

The modular Auth SDK has both unit tests and integration tests, along with a host of npm scripts to run these tests. The most important commands are:

| Command | Description | | ------- | ----------- | | yarn test | This will run lint, unit tests, and integration tests against the live environment| | yarn test:<platform> | Runs all browser tests, unit and integration | | yarn test:<platform>:unit | Runs only <platform> unit tests | | yarn test:<platform>:unit:debug | Runs <platform> unit tests, auto-watching for file system changes | | yarn test:<platform>:integration | Runs only integration tests against the live environment | | yarn test:<platform>:integration:local | Runs all headless <platform> integration tests against the emulator (more below) | | yarn test:browser:integration:prodbackend | Runs TOTP MFA integration tests against the backend (more below) |

Where <platform> is "browser" or "node". There are also cordova tests, but they are not broken into such granular details. Check out package.json for more.

Integration testing with the emulator

To test against the emulator, set up the Auth emulator (instructions). The easiest way to run these tests is to use the firebase emulators:exec command (documentation). You can also manually start the emulator separately, and then point the tests to it by setting the GCLOUD_PROJECT and FIREBASE_AUTH_EMULATOR_HOST environmental variables. In addition to the commands listed above, the below commands also run various tests:

  • yarn test:integration:local — Executes Node and browser emulator integration tests, as well as the Selenium WebDriver tests

  • yarn test:webdriver — Executes only the Selenium WebDriver integration tests

Note - The webdriver tests require the Chrome webdriver to match the version of Chrome running locally. In the CI environment, this is ensured using the environment variable here. When running locally, change the chromedriver version in package.json to match your local Chrome version and run yarn install.

For example, to run all integration and WebDriver tests against the emulator, you would simply execute the following command:

firebase emulators:exec --project foo-bar --only auth "yarn test:integration:local"

Integration testing with the production backend

Currently, MFA TOTP, password policy, and reCAPTCHA Enterprise phone verification tests only run against the production backend (since they are not supported on the emulator yet). Running against the backend also makes it a more reliable end-to-end test.

TOTP

The TOTP tests require the following email/password combination to exist in the project, so if you are running this test against your test project, please create this user:

'totpuser-donotdelete@test.com', 'password'

You also need to verify this email address, in order to use MFA. This can be done with a curl command like this:

curl   -H "Authorization: Bearer $(gcloud auth print-access-token)"   -H "Content-Type: application/json"   -H "X-Goog-User-Project: ${PROJECT_ID}"   -X POST https://identitytoolkit.googleapis.com/v1/accounts:sendOobCode   -d     '{
      "email": "totpuser-donotdelete@test.com",
      "requestType": "VERIFY_EMAIL",
      "returnOobLink": true,
    }'

Password policy

The password policy tests require a tenant configured with a password policy that requires all options to exist in the project.

If you are running this test against your test project, please create the tenant and configure the policy with the following curl command:

curl   -H "Authorization: Bearer $(gcloud auth print-access-token)"   -H "Content-Type: application/json"   -H "X-Goog-User-Project: ${PROJECT_ID}"   -X POST https://identitytoolkit.googleapis.com/v2/projects/${PROJECT_ID}/tenants   -d     '{
      "displayName": "passpol-tenant",
      "passwordPolicyConfig": {
        "passwordPolicyEnforcementState": "ENFORCE",
        "passwordPolicyVersions": [
          {
            "customStrengthOptions": {
              "minPasswordLength": 8,
              "maxPasswordLength": 24,
              "containsLowercaseCharacter": true,
              "containsUppercaseCharacter": true,
              "containsNumericCharacter": true,
              "containsNonAlphanumericCharacter": true
            }
          }
        ]
      }
    }'

Replace the tenant ID passpol-tenant-d7hha in test/integration/flows/password_policy.test.ts with the ID for the newly created tenant. The tenant ID can be found at the end of the name property in the response and is in the format passpol-tenant-xxxxx.

reCAPTCHA Enterprise phone verification

The reCAPTCHA Enterprise phone verification tests require reCAPTCHA Enterprise to be enabled and the following fictional phone number to be configured and in the project.

If you are running this test against your project, please add this test phone number:

'+1 555-555-1000', SMS code: '123456'

Follow this guide to enable reCAPTCHA Enterprise, then use the following curl command to set reCAPTCHA Enterprise to ENFORCE for phone provider:

curl   -H "Authorization: Bearer $(gcloud auth print-access-token)"   -H "Content-Type: application/json"   -H "X-Goog-User-Project: $
{PROJECT_ID}"   -X POST https://identitytoolkit.googleapis.com/v2/projects/${PROJECT_ID}/config?updateMask=recaptchaConfig.phoneEnforcementState,recaptchaConfig.useSmsBotScore,recaptchaConfig.useSmsTollFraudProtection  -d '
{
  "name": "projects/{PROJECT_ID}",
  "recaptchaConfig": {
    "phoneEnforcementState": "ENFORCE",
    "useSmsBotScore": "true",
    "useSmsTollFraudProtection": "true",
  },
}'

Selenium Webdriver tests

These tests assume that you have both Firefox and Chrome installed on your computer and in your $PATH. The tests will error out if this is not the case. The WebDriver tests talk to the emulator, but unlike the headless integration tests, these run in a browser robot environment; the assertions themselves run in Node. When you run these tests a small Express server will be started to serve the static files the browser robot uses.