ChoosinganAuthenticationStrategyforaNewWebApp

Email and password authentication, built with a well-tested library rather than hand-rolled, remains a solid, universally-understood default — as long as password hashing and session management are handled correctly, which any experienced developer should do as a matter of course rather than as a special request. Social login (Google, Apple, etc.) reduces signup friction and offloads password management to a provider your users already trust, which is a genuine usability win for many consumer products.

Passwordless approaches (magic links via email, one-time codes) trade a small amount of friction on login for eliminating password-related support issues (forgotten passwords, weak passwords) entirely — a reasonable choice for many product types, especially lower-frequency-use apps.

Whatever method you choose, passwords (if used at all) must be properly hashed, never stored in plain text — this is table-stakes security, not an advanced consideration. Session and token management needs to be handled with genuine care: appropriate expiration, secure storage, and proper handling of logout across devices.

For a B2B product, consider whether your customers will expect enterprise features like single sign-on (SSO) — this is often not needed for an MVP but is worth knowing about early if your target customers are larger organizations with existing identity requirements.

For most MVP-stage consumer or small-business products, email/password plus one social login option (commonly Google) covers the large majority of user preference without excessive engineering investment. Use an established, well-tested auth library or service rather than building session and password handling from scratch — this is a solved problem, and building it yourself mainly adds risk without adding value.