Passport vs JSON Web Token

Overview

Passport

Stacks471

Followers368

Votes0

GitHub Stars23.5K

Forks1.2K

JSON Web Token

Stacks1.8K

Followers367

Votes0

GitHub Stars3.7K

Forks374

JSON Web Token vs Passport: What are the differences?

JSON Web Token (JWT) and Passport are two authentication mechanisms commonly used in web applications. Let's explore the key differences between JSON Web Token and Passport in more detail:

Functionality: JWT is a secure method for transmitting JSON-based information, commonly used for authentication and authorization. Passport is a Node.js middleware that offers a flexible authentication framework with support for different strategies, including JWT and OAuth.
Token-based vs Strategy-based: JSON Web Token (JWT) is a token-based authentication mechanism. When a user logs in successfully, they receive a JWT that is then included in subsequent requests to authenticate and authorize the user. Passport, on the other hand, is a strategy-based authentication mechanism. It allows developers to choose from a variety of authentication strategies (e.g., local, OAuth, JWT) and implement the corresponding logic for each strategy.
Standardization: JSON Web Token (JWT) follows a standardized format defined by RFC 7519. It ensures interoperability across different systems and programming languages, making it widely adopted and supported. Passport, on the other hand, is not a specific standard but a middleware that provides an abstraction layer for implementing authentication in Node.js applications. Passport supports multiple authentication strategies and provides a consistent interface for handling authentication logic.
Extensibility: JSON Web Token (JWT) is highly extensible and allows developers to include custom claims and metadata within the token payload. This flexibility enables the addition of application-specific information to the token. Passport, on the other hand, provides a pluggable architecture that allows developers to create custom authentication strategies. It offers a wide range of pre-built strategies but also allows for the creation of custom strategies to meet specific application requirements.
Integration: JSON Web Token (JWT) can be used independently or integrated with various frameworks and libraries. It is a popular choice for securing APIs and web services and can be easily integrated into different programming languages and frameworks. Passport, on the other hand, is specifically designed for integration with Node.js applications. It provides middleware and hooks that seamlessly integrate with popular Node.js frameworks like Express, making it easier to handle authentication in the application.
Scalability and Performance: JSON Web Token (JWT) can be stateless, which makes it scalable as it does not require server-side storage for session management. However, the server needs to verify the integrity and validity of each token, which can impact performance for high-volume applications. Passport's performance depends on the chosen authentication strategy, like local authentication which may require server-side session management and introduce additional overhead.

In summary, JSON Web Token (JWT) and Passport are authentication mechanisms used in web applications, but they differ in their approach and functionality. JWT is a standardized token-based authentication mechanism that is widely supported and used for transmitting authentication information. Passport, on the other hand, is a flexible and extensible middleware that provides a strategy-based authentication framework for Node.js applications.

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Advice on Passport, JSON Web Token

Vaibhav

Jul 17, 2020

Needs advice

Currently, Passport.js repo has 324 open issues, and Jared (the original author) seems to be the one doing most of the work. Also, given that the documentation is not proper. Is it worth using Passport.js?

As of now, StackShare shows it has 29 companies using it. How do you implement auth in your project or your company? Are there any good alternatives to Passport.js? Should I implement auth from scratch?

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Detailed Comparison

Passport	JSON Web Token
It is authentication middleware for Node.js. Extremely flexible and modular, It can be unobtrusively dropped in to any Express-based web application. A comprehensive set of strategies support authentication using a username and password, Facebook, Twitter, and more.	JSON Web Token is an open standard that defines a compact and self-contained way for securely transmitting information between parties as a JSON object. This information can be verified and trusted because it is digitally signed.
Single sign-on with OpenID and OAuth; Easily handle success and failure	compact;self-contained
Statistics
GitHub Stars 23.5K	GitHub Stars 3.7K
GitHub Forks 1.2K	GitHub Forks 374
Stacks 471	Stacks 1.8K
Followers 368	Followers 367
Votes 0	Votes 0
Integrations
ExpressJS Vue.js	No integrations available

What are some alternatives to Passport, JSON Web Token?

Auth0

A set of unified APIs and tools that instantly enables Single Sign On and user management to all your applications.

Stormpath

Stormpath is an authentication and user management service that helps development teams quickly and securely build web and mobile applications and services.

Keycloak

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Devise

Devise is a flexible authentication solution for Rails based on Warden

Firebase Authentication

It provides backend services, easy-to-use SDKs, and ready-made UI libraries to authenticate users to your app. It supports authentication using passwords, phone numbers, popular federated identity providers like Google,

Amazon Cognito

You can create unique identities for your users through a number of public login providers (Amazon, Facebook, and Google) and also support unauthenticated guests. You can save app data locally on users’ devices allowing your applications to work even when the devices are offline.

WorkOS

Start selling to enterprise customers with just a few lines of code.

OAuth.io

OAuth is a protocol that aimed to provide a single secure recipe to manage authorizations. It is now used by almost every web application. However, 30+ different implementations coexist. OAuth.io fixes this massive problem by acting as a universal adapter, thanks to a robust API. With OAuth.io integrating OAuth takes minutes instead of hours or days.

OmniAuth

OmniAuth is a Ruby authentication framework aimed to abstract away the difficulties of working with various types of authentication providers. It is meant to be hooked up to just about any system, from social networks to enterprise systems to simple username and password authentication.

ORY Hydra

It is a self-managed server that secures access to your applications and APIs with OAuth 2.0 and OpenID Connect. It is OpenID Connect Certified and optimized for latency, high throughput, and low resource consumption.