In simple English
When you build an app, your users need a way to log in safely. You can write your own login pages or pay a company to do it for you. This tool gives you a ready-made login system that you can run on your own server. It supports modern methods like passkeys alongside traditional passwords and social buttons. You stay in control of your user data without paying monthly fees.
What it is
Hanko is a self-hosted authentication and user management system written in Go (a programming language built for fast network services). It includes ready-to-use login components for web pages and a server backend that handles sessions and tokens.
What it is good for
Solo builders who want a complete sign-in box on their website without paying expensive monthly fees to hosted identity services.
- Supports modern passkeys and security keys out of the box.
- Provides ready-to-use web components so you do not have to design login forms.
- Free to self-host on your own hardware or server.
- Requires Docker (a way to run a program inside its own sealed box, so it cannot break anything else on your server) or a Go environment to run.
- Uses the AGPL-3.0 licence, which has strict rules if you modify the code and offer it as a service.
- You must manage your own database backups and server security.
Auth0 or writing custom login forms from scratch
PostgreSQL for storing user accounts
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git clone https://github.com/teamhanko/hanko.git cd hanko/deploy/docker-compose docker compose -f quickstart.yaml up -d