---
title: "What AI recommended for authentication in September 2026"
description: "What AI recommends for authentication, updated monthly: which tools Claude · Claude Haiku 4.5, Claude · Claude Opus 4.8, Claude · Claude Sonnet 4.6, ChatGPT, Venice · DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731, Venice · Gemini 3.6 Flash, Venice · Kimi K2.6, Venice · Llama 3.3 70B, Venice · Qwen 3.7 Plus and Venice · GLM 5.2 named in September 2026 when developers asked \"What should I use for auth?\", cross-referenced with what developers say about them."
source: https://backtalk.sh/ai-recommends/auth/2026-09
---

# What AI recommends for authentication (September 2026)

When developers ask "What should I use for auth?", this is what Claude · Claude Haiku 4.5, Claude · Claude Opus 4.8, Claude · Claude Sonnet 4.6, ChatGPT, Venice · DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731, Venice · Gemini 3.6 Flash, Venice · Kimi K2.6, Venice · Llama 3.3 70B, Venice · Qwen 3.7 Plus and Venice · GLM 5.2 answer, measured over 578 sampled answers across 4 probe runs. Share of voice is the percentage of sampled answers naming the tool; the dev pulse is the sentiment of the same month's developer mentions on Hacker News, Reddit, GitHub, Stack Overflow, Bluesky and more.

| # | Tool | AI share of voice | Change vs prior month | Named by | Dev pulse |
|---|------|------------------:|----------------------:|----------|-----------|
| 1 | Auth0 | 0% | -28 pts | none this month | quiet (net +0) |
| 2 | Clerk | 0% | -22.6 pts | none this month | not tracked |
| 3 | Firebase Auth | 0% | -10.9 pts | none this month | not tracked |
| 4 | Keycloak | 0% | -17.1 pts | none this month | not tracked |
| 5 | Supabase Auth | 0% | -20.9 pts | none this month | quiet (net +0) |
| 6 | WorkOS | 0% | -11.2 pts | none this month | not tracked |

Biggest mover: Auth0 (-28 pts vs the previous month).

## The prompts behind these standings

- What should I use for auth? (recommendation)
- What are the best Auth0 alternatives? (alternatives)
- Which authentication provider is best for a startup? (recommendation)

## Method

These September 2026 standings are final and never change; cite them by permalink. Full methodology: https://backtalk.sh/ai-recommends/methodology (as markdown: https://backtalk.sh/ai-recommends/methodology.md). Free to cite with attribution to "BackTalk AI Recommendation Standings" and a link.