--- title: Authentication Explained: When to Use Basic, Bearer,... description: Authorization controls what users can do after authentication through three main models: RBAC assigns permissions to roles, ABAC uses attributes and context... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/authentication-explained-when-to-use-basic-bearer-oauth2-jwt-sso-aievboyln twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Authentication Explained: When to Use Basic, Bearer, OAuth2, JWT & SSO | daily.dev og:description: Authorization controls what users can do after authentication through three main models: RBAC assigns permissions to roles, ABAC uses attributes and context... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/authentication-explained-when-to-use-basic-bearer-oauth2-jwt-sso-aievboyln og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/aIevBOyLN.png og:image:alt: Authentication Explained: When to Use Basic, Bearer, OAuth2, JWT & SSO og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Authentication Explained: When to Use Basic, Bearer, OAuth2, JWT & SSO **[Medium](https://daily.dev/sources/medium_js)** · 4 min read · 938 upvotes · 25 comments ## Summary Authorization controls what users can do after authentication through three main models: RBAC assigns permissions to roles, ABAC uses attributes and context for fine-grained control, and ACL attaches permissions to individual resources. Real applications like GitHub and Stripe often combine these models. OAuth2 enables delegated authorization without sharing credentials, while JWTs and bearer tokens carry user identity and permissions across systems. The key is choosing the right combination of models and mechanisms based on your application's complexity and security requirements. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Community discussion Top comments from developers on daily.dev. **@cristianc** · 9 upvotes > Is it about authentication or authorization? Title says one, description another... **@zaheerkz21** · 5 upvotes > Worth Reading it.. **@qdang46** · 2 upvotes > good acticle! This article really help me know for authentication **@sumonta056** · 1 upvotes > Good Read **@roman97** · 1 upvotes > Nice explanation of intent and most common strategies --- Tags: [#security](https://daily.dev/tags/security), [#authentication](https://daily.dev/tags/authentication), [#jwt](https://daily.dev/tags/jwt) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/authentication-explained-when-to-use-basic-bearer-oauth2-jwt-sso-aievboyln) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Authentication Explained: When to Use Basic, Bearer, OAuth2, JWT \u0026 SSO","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/authentication-explained-when-to-use-basic-bearer-oauth2-jwt-sso-aievboyln","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/authentication-explained-when-to-use-basic-bearer-oauth2-jwt-sso-aievboyln"},"datePublished":"2025-08-15T06:38:21.975Z","dateModified":"2025-08-15T06:38:41.094Z","description":"Authorization controls what users can do after authentication through three main models: RBAC assigns permissions to roles, ABAC uses attributes and context...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/3bc8dc2f589ef7371a24ca039669557a?_a=AQAEulh","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/3bc8dc2f589ef7371a24ca039669557a?_a=AQAEulh","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"Medium","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Medium","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/medium","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/medium_js"},"commentCount":25,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/authentication-explained-when-to-use-basic-bearer-oauth2-jwt-sso-aievboyln","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":938},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":25}],"keywords":"security,authentication,jwt","timeRequired":"PT4M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Medium","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/medium_js"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Authentication Explained: When to Use Basic, Bearer, OAuth2, JWT \u0026 SSO"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/authentication-explained-when-to-use-basic-bearer-oauth2-jwt-sso-aievboyln","comment":[{"@type":"Comment","text":"Is it about authentication or authorization? Title says one, description another…","datePublished":"2025-08-23T11:26:26.084Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/aIevBOyLN#c-pjDDWNjIb","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Cristian C","url":"https://daily.dev/cristianc","image":"https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/a/ACg8ocIHDjfvRf4004qYyQV-8Z9JI_VGvKgZXAPta-Su6fKS3dDFIg=s96-c"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":9}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"Worth Reading it…","datePublished":"2025-08-19T10:01:32.616Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/aIevBOyLN#c-fnDHHfBCx","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Zaheer K Z","url":"https://daily.dev/zaheerkz21","image":"https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/112798052?v=4"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":5}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"good acticle! This article really help me know for authentication","datePublished":"2025-08-23T14:00:34.929Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/aIevBOyLN#c-uj2GLFvmH","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Trần Quang Đãng","url":"https://daily.dev/qdang46"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":2}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"Good Read","datePublished":"2025-08-24T14:13:15.995Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/aIevBOyLN#c-yfVImZGGY","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Sumonta Saha (Mridul)","url":"https://daily.dev/sumonta056","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--1WBDxE4J--/f_auto/v1740024703/avatars/avatar_oy53egVldSfhhKhkvD69g"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":1}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"Nice explanation of intent and most common strategies","datePublished":"2025-08-28T19:54:29.763Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/aIevBOyLN#c-EgYHvc82O","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Roman","url":"https://daily.dev/roman97","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--e-xxdCEa--/f_auto/v1732778028/avatars/avatar_WkckrYXxX1zCG1g94lv4B"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":1}}]} ```