I Built My Own Auth — Now I Need Something Better. How Do I Choose?

You built your own auth.

At first, it made sense. It was lightweight, fast, and you had full control. A few users, simple login, maybe a role or two. Done.

But now, things have changed:

• More users. More edge cases.

• More teams needing permissions.

• Security reviews. Compliance checks.

• You can’t spend half your sprint on auth bugs anymore.

It’s run its course. You know it’s time to move on.

The Problem With Custom Auth

It’s not that what you built was bad. It’s that:

• Auth doesn’t stay simple.

• Every new feature, tenant, or compliance request turns into tech debt.

• Your team ends up maintaining infrastructure — not shipping product.

Now you’re ready to buy. But how do you evaluate what’s next?

5 Things to Look For When Buying an Auth Platform

1. Control Without Complexity

You don’t want to give up flexibility. But you also don’t want to rebuild your old system inside a black box.

• Can you define your own access logic?

• Can you test and version policies before deploying?

• Can you integrate into your CI/CD pipeline, not just drop in a widget?

2. Unified Authn + Authz + Audit

You’re not just managing logins anymore — it’s about who can do what and how you track it.

• Does the platform unify authentication, authorization, and audit?

• Or will you be stitching together 3 different tools?

3. Scale-Ready Architecture

You’ve already seen what happens when a system doesn’t scale.

• Can the platform handle multi-tenant B2B models?

• Granular permissions beyond roles?

• High availability and latency concerns?

4. Developer Experience

You built your own because it was easier than learning someone else’s system.

• Is the platform designed for developers — or just product managers?

• Can you work in code, CLI, and Git — or are you stuck in a dashboard?

5. Transparent Pricing

You’ve felt the pain of engineering time sunk into custom auth. Now it’s about predictable cost.

• Does pricing punish growth?

• Are you paying per MAU, per app, or per feature?

Where Prefactor Fits In

Prefactor was built for teams just like yours:

• Who outgrew their homegrown auth.

• Who need control, not constraints.

• Who want infrastructure they can trust, not a plug-and-play toy.

We unify authn, authz, and audit — and let you define, version, and deploy access control like code.

Final Thought

You’ve done the hard part — you proved your product could grow.

Now it’s time to let your auth stack grow with it.

If you’re ready to move from homemade to infrastructure-grade, Prefactor is here. Email Hello@prefactor.tech and join the early access programme today.