Authentication is the backbone of every SaaS product. It’s the gatekeeper that ensures only the right users get access to the right resources. Yet, for many developers, authentication is also one of the most painful and expensive parts of building a SaaS.
Third-party services like Auth0, Okta, or AWS Cognito promise convenience, but they often come with trade-offs: high recurring costs, limited customization, and vendor lock-in. For a bootstrapped founder or a developer building lean SaaS products, these trade-offs can quickly become roadblocks.
This is where the Laravel Bastion OAuth2 package steps in. It’s a self-hosted authentication solution that empowers you to run your own OAuth2 server directly inside your Laravel application. In other words, you get the power of Auth0 without the monthly bills or external dependencies.
🌍 Why Self-Hosted Auth Is a Game-Changer
Before diving into Bastion itself, let’s talk about why self-hosted authentication matters for SaaS builders:
- Cost Efficiency: Auth0’s pricing scales aggressively with active users and features. A growing SaaS can easily rack up hundreds or thousands of dollars per month just for authentication. Bastion, being self-hosted, eliminates those recurring costs.
- Data Ownership: With third-party providers, your user data lives on someone else’s servers. Self-hosting means you keep sensitive authentication data within your own infrastructure, giving you full control over compliance and privacy.
- Customization: SaaS products often need unique flows — multi-tenant setups, custom scopes, or integration with internal APIs. Bastion lets you tailor OAuth2 flows to your exact needs.
- Scalability Without Penalties: With Bastion, scaling your user base doesn’t mean scaling your auth bill. You’re only limited by your own infrastructure.
For developers who value independence, Bastion is more than just a package — it’s a strategic choice.
🔑 What Is Laravel Bastion OAuth2?
Laravel Bastion OAuth2 is a package designed to turn your Laravel app into a fully functional OAuth2 authorization server. If you’ve ever used Laravel Passport, you’ll find Bastion familiar but more focused on SaaS use cases and multi-tenant flexibility.
Think of Bastion as your self-hosted Auth0 alternative. It provides all the essential OAuth2 flows and token management features, but it lives entirely inside your Laravel ecosystem.
Core Features
- OAuth2 Authorization Server: Issue and validate access tokens, refresh tokens, and manage scopes.
- Multi-Tenant Support: Perfect for SaaS platforms serving multiple organizations or clients.
- Laravel-Native Integration: Works seamlessly with Laravel’s authentication system, middleware, and guards.
- Customizable Grant Types: Support for authorization code, client credentials, and password grant flows.
- Secure by Design: Built on Laravel’s robust security foundation, leveraging hashing, encryption, and CSRF protection.
- Developer-Friendly Commands: Artisan commands to quickly create clients, manage tokens, and configure flows.
🛠️ Setting Up Bastion in Your Laravel App
Getting started with Bastion is refreshingly straightforward. Here’s a step-by-step overview:
- Install the Package
composer require bastion/oauth2 - Publish Config and Migrations
php artisan vendor:publish --tag=bastion-config php artisan migrateThis sets up the necessary tables for clients, tokens, and scopes. - Create OAuth Clients
Bastion provides artisan commands to generate clients for your SaaS apps:php artisan bastion:clientEach client gets a unique ID and secret, which you’ll use in your apps. - Protect Routes with Middleware
Apply Bastion’s middleware to your API routes:Route::middleware('auth:bastion')->get('/user', function (Request $request) { return $request->user(); });This ensures only authenticated requests with valid tokens can access protected endpoints. - Customize Flows
Depending on your SaaS needs, you can configure authorization code flows for web apps, client credentials for server-to-server communication, or password grants for legacy setups.
🌐 Real-World SaaS Use Cases
So how does Bastion fit into actual SaaS scenarios? Let’s explore:
- API-First SaaS: If your product exposes APIs to customers, OAuth2 tokens are the industry standard for secure access. Bastion lets you issue and validate tokens without relying on external providers.
- Multi-Tenant Platforms: SaaS products often serve multiple organizations. Bastion’s scope and tenant-aware design make it easy to issue tokens scoped to specific tenants.
- Mobile + Web Integration: With OAuth2 flows, you can unify authentication across mobile apps, web apps, and third-party integrations.
- Internal Microservices: Even if your SaaS is monolithic today, Bastion prepares you for a microservices future by providing a centralized auth server.
⚖️ Bastion vs Auth0: A Practical Comparison
| Feature | Bastion (Self-Hosted) | Auth0 (Third-Party) |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | Free (self-hosted) | Subscription-based |
| Control | Full customization | Limited by provider |
| Data Ownership | 100% yours | Stored externally |
| Integration | Native Laravel | SDKs/APIs |
| Scalability | Your infra limits | Pricing tiers |
| Vendor Lock-In | None | High |
Auth0 shines when you want plug-and-play convenience, but Bastion wins when you want control, independence, and cost efficiency.
🧭 Final Thoughts
Authentication is too important to outsource blindly. For SaaS founders and Laravel developers, the Laravel Bastion OAuth2 package offers a compelling alternative to third-party providers like Auth0.
By self-hosting your OAuth2 server, you gain:
- Freedom from recurring costs
- Full control over authentication flows
- Ownership of sensitive user data
- Scalability without financial penalties
In a world where SaaS margins are tight and independence is priceless, Bastion empowers you to build leaner, more resilient products.
If you’re serious about building a SaaS with Laravel, Bastion isn’t just another package — it’s a strategic investment in your product’s future.