Nuclei vs SuperTokens

Nuclei and SuperTokens are both open-source, developer-focused tools, but they address opposite ends of application security: Nuclei is a YAML-template-based…

Best for Nuclei: Nuclei fits security engineers and DevSecOps teams who need a free, scriptable CLI scanner with a library of 6,500+ community templates to run automated vulnerability scans across URLs, IP ranges, and CI/CD pipelines.
Best for SuperTokens: SuperTokens fits application developers who need to build email/password, passwordless, social login, or SSO flows into a product, especially teams that want core auth features free at any scale when self-hosted or free under 5,000 monthly active users on the managed cloud.

At a Glance

 NucleiSuperTokens
Primary categorySecuritySecurity
RatingNot documentedNot documented
Pricing modelOpen Sourcefreemium
Starting priceFree (open source); ProjectDiscovery Cloud Platform pricing is customFree (self-hosted, or cloud usage under 5,000 monthly active users)
Free planYesYes
Free trialNot documentedNot documented
PlatformsNot documentedNot documented
Team collaborationNot documentedNot documented
AI featuresNot documentedNot documented
Public APINot documentedYes

Key Differences

Core Function

Nuclei: Nuclei is a vulnerability scanner that detects security issues in applications, infrastructure, and cloud platforms using over 6,500 community-contributed YAML templates.

SuperTokens: SuperTokens is an authentication platform providing email/password, passwordless, social login, SSO, multi-tenancy, and session management.

These solve entirely different engineering problems — finding vulnerabilities versus building a login system — so they are rarely evaluated as alternatives to each other.

Pricing Model

Nuclei: Nuclei's core CLI scanner is free and open source, with an optional paid Cloud tier ('Contact for pricing') that adds reporting and ticketing integrations.

SuperTokens: SuperTokens core features are free at any scale when self-hosted, and the managed Cloud Core is free under 5,000 monthly active users, with premium add-ons like MFA billed at $0.01/MAU (minimum $100/month).

Both tools are free to adopt at small scale, but SuperTokens has clearly published usage-based pricing for premium add-ons while Nuclei's cloud tier pricing is opaque.

Deployment Model

Nuclei: Nuclei runs as a command-line tool that scans targets you point it at; there is no application runtime to deploy.

SuperTokens: SuperTokens ships as a self-hosted core service or managed cloud dashboard that your application integrates with via SDKs across 25+ frameworks and languages.

SuperTokens becomes a running dependency of your production application, while Nuclei is an external tool run on demand or in CI/CD.

CI/CD Integration

Nuclei: Nuclei explicitly supports CI/CD pipeline integration for automated security testing on every build.

SuperTokens: SuperTokens does not document CI/CD scanning integration; its integration surface is SDKs for application frameworks, not pipeline security testing.

Teams building a DevSecOps pipeline need a scanner like Nuclei; SuperTokens simply becomes part of the application code being scanned.

Enterprise-Only Features

Nuclei: Nuclei's advanced reporting and ticketing integrations (e.g. Jira, Splunk) require the paid Cloud tier.

SuperTokens: SuperTokens' multi-tenancy, machine-to-machine auth, and full attack protection suite require contacting sales beyond the free tier.

Both tools gate advanced enterprise workflows behind sales conversations, so teams should budget time for a custom pricing discussion once they outgrow the free tier.

Feature-by-Feature

Security & Scanning

FeatureNucleiSuperTokens
Vulnerability scanning (YAML templates)AvailableUnavailable
Multi-protocol scanning (TCP/DNS/HTTP)AvailableUnavailable
Attack protection suite (auth attacks)UnavailableLimited
CI/CD pipeline integrationAvailableNot documented

Authentication & Identity

FeatureNucleiSuperTokens
Email/password authenticationUnavailableAvailable
Passwordless / magic link loginUnavailableAvailable
Social loginUnavailableAvailable
Single sign-on (SSO)UnavailableAvailable
Multi-tenancyUnavailableLimited

Deployment & Pricing

FeatureNucleiSuperTokens
Free open-source coreAvailableAvailable
Managed cloud offeringAvailableAvailable
Ticketing integrations (Jira, Splunk)LimitedUnavailable
Published usage-based pricingUnavailableAvailable

Pricing Compared

Starting price reflects the lowest paid tier, not the full cost for every team size or usage level.

Nuclei

Nuclei (open source) — Free n/a
ProjectDiscovery Cloud Platform — Custom custom

SuperTokens

Self-Hosted Open Source — Free n/a
Cloud — Free under 5,000 MAU, then 0.02 dollars per MAU (100 dollar monthly minimum) monthly
Add-ons — Varies (from 0.005 dollars per MAU) monthly

Pros & Cons

Nuclei

Pros

  • Completely free and open source with no feature restrictions
  • Extremely fast, low-overhead scanning suitable for large-scale and CI/CD use
  • Massive, continuously updated community template library covers new CVEs quickly
  • Declarative YAML templates are easy to read, write and audit compared to compiled scanner logic
  • Backed by an active, well-funded company (ProjectDiscovery) ensuring ongoing development

Cons

  • Effectiveness depends heavily on template coverage and quality, gaps can mean missed vulnerabilities
  • Command-line-first tool has a steeper learning curve than GUI-based commercial scanners
  • No built-in reporting, dashboards or team collaboration, those require the separate paid Cloud Platform
  • False positives can occur with community-submitted templates that are not officially vetted
  • Requires ongoing template updates and tuning to stay effective against new threats

SuperTokens

Pros

  • Open-source core is free to self-host at unlimited scale with full data ownership
  • Cloud plan has a generous free tier of up to 5,000 monthly active users
  • Broad SDK coverage across Node.js, Python, Go, React, and React Native
  • Avoids vendor lock-in compared to closed-source identity providers
  • Backed by Y Combinator with active development and community support

Cons

  • Self-hosting requires engineering time to deploy, secure, and maintain infrastructure
  • Several useful features like multi-factor authentication and account linking are paid add-ons rather than included
  • Multi-tenancy and machine-to-machine auth pricing require contacting sales rather than transparent self-serve pricing
  • Smaller team and community than large incumbents like Auth0 may mean slower support response for edge cases
  • Dashboard user pricing at 20 dollars per user per month can add up for larger internal teams

Use Cases

Choose Nuclei: Nuclei fits security engineers and DevSecOps teams who need a free, scriptable CLI scanner with a library of 6,500+ community templates to run automated vulnerability scans across URLs, IP ranges, and CI/CD pipelines.
Choose SuperTokens: SuperTokens fits application developers who need to build email/password, passwordless, social login, or SSO flows into a product, especially teams that want core auth features free at any scale when self-hosted or free under 5,000 monthly active users on the managed cloud.
Need both: A team could use SuperTokens to implement its own application's login and session management, then run Nuclei against that same application's endpoints, including the authentication flows, to continuously scan for vulnerabilities and misconfigurations before and after each deployment.

Nuclei

  • Continuous vulnerability scanning in CI/CD — Run Nuclei automatically on every deployment or on a schedule to catch newly introduced or newly disclosed vulnerabilities early.
  • Penetration testing and bug bounty reconnaissance — Quickly identify known vulnerabilities and misconfigurations across large sets of targets during engagements.
  • Attack surface monitoring — Continuously scan external-facing assets for exposures and CVEs as part of an ongoing security posture program.

SuperTokens

  • Custom authentication for SaaS products — Engineering teams building a SaaS product use SuperTokens to add login, session management, and MFA without building it from scratch or fully outsourcing to a closed vendor.
  • Data-sovereign self-hosted auth — Companies with strict data residency or compliance requirements self-host SuperTokens so user credentials never leave their own infrastructure.
  • Replacing legacy or expensive identity providers — Teams migrating off costly proprietary identity platforms use SuperTokens to reduce per-user authentication costs while keeping similar functionality.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are Nuclei and SuperTokens competitors?

No. Nuclei is a vulnerability scanner and SuperTokens is an authentication platform; they solve different problems and are typically used together rather than as alternatives.

Is Nuclei free?

Yes, the core Nuclei CLI scanner is open source and free. ProjectDiscovery also offers an optional paid Cloud tier with reporting and ticketing integrations, priced on request.

Is SuperTokens free?

Core authentication features are free at any scale when self-hosted, and the managed Cloud Core is free for under 5,000 monthly active users. Premium add-ons like MFA start at $0.01/MAU with a $100/month minimum.

Does SuperTokens scan for vulnerabilities?

No, SuperTokens does not document any vulnerability scanning capability; it includes an 'attack protection suite' against common authentication attacks, which is a different function from Nuclei's broader vulnerability scanning.

Can Nuclei run in a CI/CD pipeline?

Yes, Nuclei explicitly supports CI/CD integration for automated security testing on every build.

What frameworks does SuperTokens support?

The company states it works with 25+ frameworks and languages, including React, Angular, Vue, Python, Go, Android, Flutter, and iOS.

Read the full Nuclei review · Read the full SuperTokens review