Difference between Passport.js and OAuth2

In the realm of web development, especially when dealing with user authentication, two terms frequently arise: Passports.js and OAuth2. Although both are important in dealing with authentication, their roles are different and they work in various manners.

In this article, we will discuss the difference between Passport.js and OAuth2. Before discussing their differences, we must know about Passport.js and OAuth2.

What is the Passport.js?

Passport.js is an authentication middleware for Node.js applications. It offers a simple configuration of the choice of the mentioned authentication types, including popular OAuth2, JWT, Local, etc. Passport.js is a purposely anti-philosophical framework in that it does not force the development style for sessions, routing, or data storage. Unlike many other frameworks, it is primarily designed to perform only authentication, which means that it is highly portable and can be easily incorporated into other frameworks.

Key Features of Passport.js:

Several key features of Passport.js are as follows:

Middleware Integration:

• It integrates perfectly with Express and other Node.js frameworks, which allows it to be easily integrated into other applications that are being developed.

Wide Range of Strategies:

• It accommodates more than 500 authentications, such as OAuth2, OpenID, JWT, and Local, among others.

Modularity:

• All the provided types of authentications are organized as different modules, so the developer is free to use only those that are required.

Use Cases of Passport.js:

Several use cases of Passport.js are as follows:

1. Social Login Integration:
   It is very simple to integrate login with Google, Facebook, Twitter, or any other OAuth2 service provider.
2. Custom Authentication:
   Use the device resource to add custom authentication processes for certain business requirements, like syncing with an organizational user directory.
3. Multi-Strategy Authentication:
   Integrate two or more auth types to cover all possible authentication methods for the same app, such as OAuth2 and local auth.

What is the OAuth2?

OAuth2 is another open standard used for authorization, and it is commonly known as Open Authorization version 2. It allows third-party apps to interact with a restricted number of a user's resources, and they do not require the user's password. OAuth2 is used in a situation where we have an application that needs to access APIs of Google Drive, GitHub Facebook, and many others on behalf of the user.

Key Features of OAuth2:

Several key features of OAuth2 are as follows:

Authorization Grants:

• It supports grant types, including Authorization Code, Implicit, Resource Owner Password Credentials, and Client Credentials.

Token-Based Authentication:

• It employs tokens (commonly the Bearer tokens) to allow access to a given set of protected resources without necessarily requesting the user identity credentials.

Decoupled Authorization:

• It splits the responsibilities of the resource owner, client, and authorization server, thus it can be easily used in different scenarios of authentications.

Use Cases of OAuth2:

Several use cases of OAuth2 are as follows:

1. Third-Party API Access:
   It allows third-party applications to have access to the expression of the user data on services, such as Google, Facebook, or GitHub, while not including the credentials of the user.
2. Single Sign-On (SSO):
   In order to integrate the SSO across the different applications, use OAuth2 providers such as Google or Microsoft.
3. Delegated Authorization:
   It allows users to let a given application share or use the resources of another one, such as using a calendar to interface with Google Calendar.

Key differences between Passport.js and OAuth2

There are several key differences between Passport.js and OAuth2. Some main differences are as follows:

Conclusion:

In conclusion, while Passport.js and OAuth2 both deal with elements of authorization and authentication, they serve different functions. Passport.js is a more or less general middleware that aids with authentication in Node.js applications, and it sometimes employs OAuth2 as one of the attempted strategies. On the other hand, OAuth2 is a strong authorization protocol that is utilized in delegating authorization to third-party applications to give them access to the user data without revealing the user's credentials.