Laravel offers multiple ways to secure your API. Whether you're building a mobile app, a SPA, or a third-party service, choosing the right authentication method matters.
Step 1: Sanctum is Laravel’s simple token-based auth for SPAs and mobile apps.
Step 2: Sanctum supports both
session-based login (for browser-based apps) and
API tokens (for mobile/SPA).
Step 3: Sanctum is easy to install:
composer require laravel/sanctum
Step 4: Passport is Laravel’s full OAuth2 server. It’s heavier but supports advanced use cases like third-party login.
Step 5: Passport uses access tokens, refresh tokens, and scopes — ideal for public APIs.
Step 6: Install Passport with:
composer require laravel/passport and run
php artisan passport:install
Step 7: JWT (JSON Web Tokens) is a stateless solution. Laravel doesn’t include it natively, but you can use packages like
tymon/jwt-auth.
Step 8: JWT works well for microservices and serverless APIs where no sessions are used.
Step 9: Example JWT install:
composer require tymon/jwt-auth
Step 10: Laravel Breeze, Fortify, and UI are for frontend-based authentication (not ideal for APIs).
Step 11: Sanctum works best for
Laravel + Vue/React apps or simple API tokens.
Step 12: Passport is ideal when you need
OAuth2 with third-party clients and refresh tokens.
Step 13: JWT is good for
stateless apps with distributed backend architecture.
Step 14: Quick Comparison:
| Auth Method | Use Case | Complexity | Best For |
|---|
| Sanctum | SPA, Mobile | Low | Laravel-internal apps |
| Passport | OAuth2 APIs | High | 3rd-party APIs |
| JWT | Stateless APIs | Medium | Microservices |
Step 15: Choose based on project size, ecosystem, and frontend/backend split. Don’t over-engineer!