--- title: "Auth0 Auth for MCP vs theAuth: MCP Authorization" description: "Compare Auth0 Auth for MCP and Token Vault with theAuth's MCP authorization server and agent identity: hosted or self-hosted, and where Auth0 is better." canonical: https://theauth.dev/compare/auth0-for-mcp/ lastmod: 2026-10-08 --- Auth0 Auth for MCP against a self-hosted MCP authorization server # theAuth vs Auth0 for MCP Auth0 now sells Auth for MCP and Token Vault as part of Auth0 for AI Agents. This page covers only the MCP and agent parts. For the general comparison see theAuth vs Auth0. Last verified: 2026-10-08. Hosted MCP authorization against an MIT library. General comparison: [theAuth vs Auth0](https://theauth.dev/compare/auth0/). [Get started](https://theauth.dev/get-started/) [Feature table](https://theauth.dev/compare/auth0-for-mcp/#table) ## Short answer ### Choose Auth0 for MCP if - You already run Auth0 and want your MCP server to use the same tenant, connections and enterprise identity providers. - Your agents call Google, Microsoft, Jira or Notion for users, and you want Token Vault to hold and rotate those tokens. - You want On-Behalf-Of token exchange so an MCP server can call an internal API with a short-lived token. ### Choose theAuth if - You need to self-host the MCP authorization server and keep tokens in your own database. - You want agents modeled as identities with owners, delegation depth limits, budgets and approval gates. - You want open dynamic client registration without an Enterprise plan, with the controls under your own config. If you are choosing between the two on MCP alone, the questions are hosting, the outbound token vault, and how agents are represented. ## theAuth vs Auth0 for MCP feature comparison Feature comparison of Auth0 for MCP and theAuth | Feature | Auth0 for MCP | theAuth | | --- | --- | --- | | Authorization server for MCP | Yes, Yes, Auth for MCP issues and validates OAuth tokens | Yes, Yes, built in | | Sign-in through enterprise identity providers | Yes, Yes, such as Okta, Entra ID, Ping and Google Workspace | Yes, SAML 2.0 and OIDC SSO, SCIM 2.0 | | Token exchange for internal APIs | Yes, Yes, On-Behalf-Of flow | Yes, RFC 8693 token exchange in the Go module | | Third-party API token vault | Yes, Yes, Token Vault for Google, Microsoft, Jira, Notion and others | No, Not offered | | Dynamic client registration | Partial or different, Supported; manual CIMD registration recommended for production, and open registration security options listed as Enterprise | Yes, RFC 7591; CIMD in the Go module | | Self-hostable | No, No, managed service (private cloud is operated by Auth0) | Yes, Yes, on your own database | | Agent identity with delegation chains | Partial or different, Scoped permissions for agents; no owner and depth-capped delegation model found in the pages we checked | Yes, Owner, token, delegation chains, budgets, audit | Check mark: yes. Dash: partial, different, or not found in the docs we checked. Cross: no. Claims about Auth0 for MCP are from its own public pages (see Sources). theAuth rows are from its repositories. 01 ## Auth for MCP against the built-in server Both can issue the token your MCP server validates. Auth0 for MCP Auth0 documents Auth for MCP as user authentication through identity providers, OAuth 2.0 access token issuance and validation, standards-aligned client registration and discovery, scoped permissions, and On-Behalf-Of token exchange for calling internal APIs. For production it recommends manual CIMD registration over open dynamic client registration. theAuth theAuth ships the authorization server in the library: PKCE S256, RFC 9728, RFC 8707, RFC 8414 and RFC 7591, with DPoP, PAR, JAR, CIBA and CIMD in the Go module. You run it. Walk through it in [the TypeScript guide](https://theauth.dev/guides/mcp-server-typescript/). 02 ## Calling third-party APIs The main thing theAuth does not do. Auth0 for MCP Token Vault manages issuance, storage, rotation and revocation of tokens for external APIs such as Google, Microsoft, Jira and Notion, so an agent can act in those services without your code handling the credentials. Auth0 sells this as part of Auth0 for AI Agents. theAuth theAuth authorizes actions on your own resources and issues tokens for them. It has no outbound token vault, so tokens for third-party APIs stay in your hands or in another tool. If that is the center of your agent design, Auth0 is the stronger fit. 03 ## How an agent is represented Permissions on a client, or an identity with an owner. Auth0 for MCP Auth0 for AI Agents focuses on an agent acting for a signed-in user with centralized authorization, plus asynchronous authorization through CIBA. theAuth theAuth makes the agent a named identity with an owner and wildcard permission patterns, hands sub-agents a narrower subset through delegation chains with a depth cap, and writes an audit row per decision. See [delegation](https://docs.theauth.dev/delegation) and [approval](https://docs.theauth.dev/approval). ## Auth0 for MCP alternative: common questions **Does Auth0 support MCP authorization?** Yes. Auth0 documents Auth for MCP, where it acts as the authorization server for an MCP server, and Token Vault for calling third-party APIs. theAuth also ships an MCP OAuth 2.1 authorization server. **What is the difference between Auth for MCP and Token Vault?** Auth for MCP covers authenticating users and issuing tokens that an MCP server validates. Token Vault stores and rotates tokens for external APIs that an agent calls on a user's behalf. **Can I self-host an Auth0 MCP setup?** No. Auth0 operates the service, including private cloud. theAuth is MIT licensed and runs on your own database. **Does theAuth replace Token Vault?** No. theAuth has no outbound token vault. It authorizes what agents do in your own system. ## Sources Last verified: 2026-10-08. Competitor facts come from the public pages below. Plans, limits and prices change, so confirm there. The general comparison page was re-read against the same pages on this date and its claims about Auth for MCP and Token Vault still hold. - [Auth0 for MCP overview](https://auth0.com/ai/docs/mcp/intro/overview) auth0.com/ai/docs/mcp/intro/overview - [Auth0 for AI Agents](https://auth0.com/ai) auth0.com/ai - [Auth0 dynamic client registration for MCP](https://auth0.com/ai/docs/mcp/guides/registering-your-mcp-client-application/dynamic-client-registration) auth0.com/ai/docs/mcp/guides/registering-your-mcp-client-application/dynamic-client-registration - [Auth0 private cloud deployment](https://auth0.com/docs/deploy-monitor/deploy-private-cloud) auth0.com/docs/deploy-monitor/deploy-private-cloud - [Auth0 pricing](https://auth0.com/pricing) auth0.com/pricing - [theAuth repository and README](https://github.com/glincker/theauth) github.com/glincker/theauth - [theauth-go repository and README](https://github.com/glincker/theauth-go) github.com/glincker/theauth-go ## Keep reading [All comparisons](https://theauth.dev/compare/) [Get started](https://theauth.dev/get-started/) [MCP OAuth 2.1](https://theauth.dev/mcp-oauth/) [Agent identity](https://theauth.dev/agent-identity/) [Guides](https://theauth.dev/guides/)