Laravel Authentication: Sanctum vs Passport vs JWT
When building APIs in Laravel, developers often ask:
Should I use Sanctum, Passport, or JWT?
All three handle authentication, but they solve different architectural problems.
🔐 1️⃣ Laravel Sanctum
Framework: Laravel Sanctum
Best for:
SPA applications (React / Vue)
Mobile apps
First-party APIs
How it works technically
Sanctum provides two authentication modes:
1️⃣ Cookie-based session authentication (for SPAs)
2️⃣ API tokens (for mobile or external clients)
Token Flow
User logs in.
The server generates a personal access token.
The token is stored in the database (personal_access_tokens table).
Client sends the token in the request header.
Example:
Authorization: Bearer 1|xF9kslKjdsf93ksd...
Internally Sanctum:
Hashes the token
Stores the hash in DB
Matches incoming tokens via middleware
Resolves the authenticated user
Key Characteristics
✔ Lightweight
✔ Simple setup
✔ Database-backed token validation
✔ Ability-based permissions
Architecture:
Stateful or semi-stateless, depending on implementation.
🔐 2️⃣ Laravel Passport
Framework: Laravel Passport
Protocol: OAuth 2.0
Best for:
Public APIs
Third-party integrations
Enterprise platforms
Passport turns Laravel into a full OAuth2 authorization server.
It supports multiple grant types:
• Authorization Code Grant
• Password Grant
• Client Credentials
• Personal Access Tokens
• Refresh Tokens
Authorization Code Flow
Client App
↓
Redirect the user to the authorization server.
↓
User authenticates
↓
Authorization code returned
↓
Client exchanges code for an access token.
↓
Client calls the API using the access token.
Passport creates several tables:
oauth_clients
oauth_access_tokens
oauth_refresh_tokens
oauth_auth_codes
Key Characteristics
✔ Full OAuth2 implementation
✔ Secure delegated authorization
✔ Token scopes and refresh tokens
✔ Ideal for third-party developer ecosystems
Tradeoff: heavier infrastructure and configuration.
🔐 3️⃣ JWT Authentication
Standard: JSON Web Token
Best for:
Microservices architecture
Stateless APIs
Distributed systems
JWT is a stateless authentication mechanism.
Instead of storing tokens in a database, the token itself contains the Token signature:
HMACSHA256(
base64(header) + "." + base64(payload),
secret_key
)
Request example:
Authorization: Bearer eyJhbG..
The server only verifies the signature — no database lookup required.
Key Characteristics
✔ Fully stateless
✔ Fast authentication
✔ Ideal for distributed systems
🧠 Rule of Thumb
• Use Sanctum → Most Laravel apps (SPA + mobile APIs)
• Use Passport → If you're building a public developer platform
• Use JWT → If you're designing stateless microservices
💡 Pro tip:
Many modern systems combine OAuth2 authorization with JWT access tokens for scalable distributed authentication.
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Sanctum vs Passport vs JWT
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