--- title: "Stytch vs theAuth: Stytch Alternative for AI Agents" description: "Compare Stytch and theAuth: Stytch Connected Apps is a hosted OAuth server for MCP, theAuth an MIT library you self-host with agent identity. Where Stytch wins." canonical: https://theauth.dev/compare/stytch/ lastmod: 2026-10-08 --- A self-hosted Stytch alternative for AI agents # theAuth vs Stytch Stytch is a hosted authentication service with Connected Apps for MCP and agent access. theAuth is an MIT library you run next to your own data, with AI agents modeled as identities of their own. Last verified: 2026-10-08. Hosted service against an MIT library. [Get started](https://theauth.dev/get-started/) [Feature table](https://theauth.dev/compare/stytch/#table) ## Short answer ### Choose Stytch if - You want a vendor to run authentication and the OAuth server for your MCP clients, with an SDK on your side. - Your pricing model fits its usage metering, which counts AI agents next to users on its pricing page. - You prefer buying a service to operating a database, signing keys and a login surface yourself. ### Choose theAuth if - You need to self-host, or keep users, tokens and audit rows in your own database. - Your agents need an identity of their own: an owner, scoped permissions, delegation depth limits, budgets and a per-agent audit trail. - You write Go as well as TypeScript and want the same model in both. Both can protect an MCP server with OAuth 2.1. The difference is who runs it and how an agent is represented, not whether it is possible. ## theAuth vs Stytch feature comparison Feature comparison of Stytch and theAuth | Feature | Stytch | theAuth | | --- | --- | --- | | Self-hostable | Partial or different, Hosted service; no self-hosting option found in the docs we checked | Yes, Yes, on your own database | | OAuth server for MCP clients | Yes, Yes, Connected Apps | Yes, Yes, built in | | Dynamic client registration | Yes, Yes, MCP clients can self-register | Yes, RFC 7591 supported; closed by default in Go | | Agent as its own identity | Partial or different, Agents are counted in pricing; an owner and delegation model was not found in the pages we checked | Yes, Owner, token, permissions, delegation chains, budgets, audit | | Access control | Yes, Role-based access control with scopes and permissions | Yes, Wildcard permissions, RBAC, ReBAC, policy engine | | Runs on edge runtimes | Partial or different, Hosted API reached over HTTPS | Yes, Workers, Deno, Bun (TypeScript); single static binary (Go) | | Cost model | Partial or different, Usage-based, with a free allowance; see its pricing page | Yes, MIT library; Cloud in early access, no published prices | Check mark: yes. Dash: partial, different, or not found in the docs we checked. Cross: no. Claims about Stytch are from its own public pages (see Sources). theAuth rows are from its repositories. 01 ## How each one models an agent Counted as a user-like principal, or its own identity. Stytch Stytch Connected Apps lets third-party apps and AI agents get access to your application on a user's behalf. Its pricing page counts monthly active users and AI agents together. We did not find a documented owner, delegation chain or per-agent budget in the pages we checked. theAuth theAuth models an agent as an identity with an owner, a cryptographic bearer token, wildcard permissions such as mcp:github:*, and delegation chains with configurable depth limits. Budget policies, trust scoring and approval gates sit on top, and every decision is written to the audit log. Read the [agents guide](https://docs.theauth.dev/agents). 02 ## Protecting an MCP server Both can be the authorization server. Stytch Stytch documents using Connected Apps with an MCP server built on the open @modelcontextprotocol/sdk. The authorization is hosted: your server validates what Stytch issues, and MCP clients register dynamically. theAuth theAuth ships the OAuth 2.1 authorization server inside the library: PKCE S256, RFC 9728 resource metadata, RFC 8707 resource indicators, RFC 8414 metadata and RFC 7591 registration. The Go module adds DPoP, PAR, JAR, CIBA and CIMD. A step-by-step version is in [Secure an MCP server in 10 minutes](https://theauth.dev/guides/mcp-server-typescript/). 03 ## Who operates it, and how it is billed A metered service against a library you run. Stytch Stytch is a hosted service with usage-based pricing and a free allowance. That removes the work of running auth. It also means users, tokens and sessions live with the vendor, and cost follows usage. theAuth The library is free under MIT. Your costs are the database, the compute and the time to operate it. You also own the failure modes: signing key rotation, backups and upgrades are yours. theAuth Cloud is in early access and has no published prices. ## Stytch alternative: common questions **Is theAuth a Stytch alternative for AI agents?** It can be. theAuth is an open source library that gives each AI agent its own identity, scoped permissions, delegation limits and audit trail, and it includes an MCP OAuth 2.1 authorization server. Stytch offers Connected Apps as a hosted service, so the real choice is who runs it. **Can I self-host Stytch?** We found no self-hosting option in the Stytch pages we checked. Stytch is described as a hosted service. theAuth is MIT licensed and runs on your own database. **Does Stytch support MCP?** Yes. Stytch documents Connected Apps for MCP servers, including dynamic client registration. theAuth also ships an MCP OAuth 2.1 authorization server in the library. **What do I give up by choosing theAuth?** Mainly the hosted operation. You run the database and the upgrade path, and there is no vendor support contract. theAuth Cloud is in early access for teams that would rather not run it. ## Sources Last verified: 2026-10-08. Competitor facts come from the public pages below. Plans, limits and prices change, so confirm there. - [Stytch: MCP servers with Connected Apps](https://stytch.com/docs/guides/connected-apps/mcp-servers) stytch.com/docs/guides/connected-apps/mcp-servers - [Stytch pricing](https://stytch.com/pricing) stytch.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/)