Paid Auth vs. Roll Your Own: Choosing the Right Authentication Path
Devblock Team
September 26, 2025
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When building a digital product, one of the first infrastructure choices you’ll face is authentication. Do you use a paid identity provider like ClerkAuth, or should you roll your own with tools like Better Auth? The answer depends on your team’s priorities, timeline, and scale. Let’s break down the trade-offs.

The Case for Paid Authentication

Paid authentication platforms exist to solve a universal problem: securely handling user sign-up, login, and identity management. Instead of reinventing the wheel, you can integrate a provider and get production-ready auth in hours.

Pros

  • Speed to market: Plug-and-play SDKs and prebuilt UI components cut development time dramatically.
  • Security at scale: Providers handle hashing, token management, session handling, and evolving best practices.
  • Advanced features out of the box: Social logins, MFA, passwordless login, role-based access, audit logs, and more.
  • Compliance baked in: Many providers meet GDPR, SOC 2, HIPAA, and other regulatory requirements.

Cons

  • Cost grows with users: Pricing often scales with monthly active users, which can become expensive.
  • Vendor lock-in: Migrating away is difficult once your system is tightly coupled to a provider’s SDK.
  • Limited customization: While extensible, you’re ultimately constrained by the provider’s APIs and flows.

Example: Adding ClerkAuth to a Next.js app

// app/layout.tsx
import { ClerkProvider } from "@clerk/nextjs";

export default function RootLayout({ children }) {
  return (
    <ClerkProvider>
      <html>
        <body>{children}</body>
      </html>
    </ClerkProvider>
  );
}

// app/page.tsx
import { SignedIn, SignedOut, UserButton, SignInButton } from "@clerk/nextjs";

export default function Home() {
  return (
    <main>
      <SignedIn>
        <UserButton />
        <h1>Welcome back!</h1>
      </SignedIn>
      <SignedOut>
        <SignInButton />
      </SignedOut>
    </main>
  );
}

With just a few lines, you have a fully secure login, logout, and account management flow.

The Case for Building Your Own

Rolling your own authentication gives you complete control over the user experience and data. With modern libraries like Better Auth, it’s easier than ever to implement secure, customizable authentication without starting from scratch.

Pros

  • Customization: You own every detail of the authentication flow.
  • Cost savings at scale: Once built, there are no per-user fees.
  • Data ownership: Credentials and tokens stay entirely within your system.

Cons

  • Security burden: You’re responsible for protecting passwords, managing sessions, preventing brute-force attacks, and patching vulnerabilities.
  • Longer development time: Implementing MFA, social login, or enterprise SSO can take weeks.
  • Ongoing maintenance: You must keep up with evolving standards, frameworks, and compliance requirements.

Example: DIY auth path with Better Auth

// auth.ts
import { betterAuth } from "better-auth";
import { Pool } from "pg";
import { organization } from "better-auth/plugins/organization";
import { twoFactor } from "better-auth/plugins/two-factor";

export const auth = betterAuth({
  database: new Pool({
    connectionString: process.env.DATABASE_URL,
  }),
  emailAndPassword: {
    enabled: true,
  },
  plugins: [
    organization(),
    twoFactor(),
  ],
});

Better Auth handles the heavy lifting (database integration, sessions, providers, plugins) while still giving you the freedom to extend and customize flows as you see fit.

Which Path Is Right for You?

At Devblock, we guide clients based on their product maturity and priorities:

  • Startup MVPs: Paid auth is usually the smart move. You’ll get secure, reliable authentication without slowing your launch.
  • Scaling businesses: If costs balloon, consider a hybrid approach. Start with a provider like ClerkAuth, then gradually bring critical pieces in-house.
  • Enterprises with compliance needs: Providers can save months of security work, but a custom build with Better Auth path gives you fine-grained control where required.

👉 Our Take: If speed and security are your top priorities, go paid with ClerkAuth. If you’re optimizing for control and long-term cost savings, Better Auth is a modern DIY choice worth exploring.

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