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Hanko vs Stytch

Stytch scores higher on the AgentReady, 51/100 against 48/100. They differ on 7 of the 41 signals. Which ones decides whether an agent can adopt them without a person watching.

What each one is

Hanko. Hanko is an open-source authentication and user management platform for modern web and mobile apps.

Stytch. The identity platform for humans & AI agents.

Where Hanko is ahead

Hanko passes pricing understandable, and Stytch does not. That is understand, whether an agent can read the docs and work out how the API behaves before calling it.

It also holds adopt: self-service signup, free trial or free allowance and fast time to first request. Stytch misses those.

Where Stytch is ahead

Stytch passes clear product positioning, and Hanko does not. That is discover, whether an agent can find the product at all without being told it exists.

It also holds understand: structured api reference and authentication documented. Hanko misses those.

What neither does

Both fail mcp discoverable, openapi / spec quality, request examples provided, response examples provided, errors and status codes documented, limits / constraints documented, no mandatory sales call, agent-compatible signup flow, programmatic credential creation, cli available, mcp integration available, machine-readable errors, retry behavior documented, idempotency support, rate-limit behavior predictable, agent compatibility verified. If your agent needs any of those, you will be building it yourself either way.

Score, pillar by pillar

The AgentReady splits into four pillars, scored separately, because a product can be easy to find and still impossible to adopt.

Discover. Stytch leads 87 to 73. Hanko misses clear product positioning, mcp discoverable; Stytch misses mcp discoverable.

Understand. Stytch leads 38 to 23. Hanko misses structured api reference, openapi / spec quality, authentication documented, request examples provided, response examples provided, errors and status codes documented, limits / constraints documented; Stytch misses openapi / spec quality, pricing understandable, request examples provided, response examples provided, errors and status codes documented, limits / constraints documented.

Adopt is whether an agent can get a key and make its first successful call without a human in the loop. Hanko leads 50 to 29. Hanko misses no mandatory sales call, agent-compatible signup flow, programmatic credential creation, cli available, mcp integration available; Stytch misses self-service signup, no mandatory sales call, agent-compatible signup flow, programmatic credential creation, free trial or free allowance, fast time to first request, cli available, mcp integration available.

Operate. Stytch leads 50 to 47. Hanko misses machine-readable errors, retry behavior documented, idempotency support, rate-limit behavior predictable, agent compatibility verified; Stytch misses machine-readable errors, retry behavior documented, idempotency support, rate-limit behavior predictable, agent compatibility verified.

Pricing

Hanko starts at $29/month and has a free tier. Stytch does not publish one.

Signal by signal

Which to pick

Hanko clears more of the signals an agent needs, so it is the safer default for unattended use. Full profiles: Hanko and Stytch. Alternatives to each: Hanko, Stytch.

An agent can fetch this as data: POST /v1/compare {"slugs": ["hanko", "stytch"]}