# User Authentication plugin

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/user-authentication-plugin/193167>\
**Category:** Rails\
**Created:** [August 12, 2010, 11:15am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/user-authentication-plugin/193167 "2010-08-12T11:15:59Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![miked](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/ed655f/32.png) [@miked](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/miked)\
**Post date:** [August 12, 2010, 11:15am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/user-authentication-plugin/193167/1 "2010-08-12T11:15:59Z")

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Hi,  
I have to start a new application. Can anyone tell me whether should I  
use “Restful Authentication” or “Authlogic”?

Thanks,  
Mike

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**Author:** ![miked](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/ed655f/32.png) [@miked](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/miked)\
**Post date:** [August 12, 2010, 11:25am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/user-authentication-plugin/193167/2 "2010-08-12T11:25:26Z")

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Authlogic

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**Author:** ![miked](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/ed655f/32.png) [@miked](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/miked)\
**Post date:** [August 12, 2010, 4:41pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/user-authentication-plugin/193167/3 "2010-08-12T16:41:00Z")

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Mike D. wrote:

> Hi,  
> I have to start a new application. Can anyone tell me whether should I  
> use “Restful Authentication” or “Authlogic”?

Definitely Authlogic (I’ve also been hearing good things about Devise,  
but never tried it). restful\_authentication relies on unmaintainable  
generated code, whereas Authlogic has a much cleaner approach.

> Thanks,  
> Mike

## Best,

Marnen Laibow-Koser  
[http://www.marnen.org](http://www.marnen.org)  
removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![miked](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/ed655f/32.png) [@miked](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/miked)\
**Post date:** [August 12, 2010, 4:53pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/user-authentication-plugin/193167/4 "2010-08-12T16:53:49Z")

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Actually, I think you should try Devise

> **[GitHub - heartcombo/devise: Flexible authentication solution for Rails with...](https://github.com/heartcombo/devise)**
>
> Flexible authentication solution for Rails with Warden. - GitHub - heartcombo/devise: Flexible authentication solution for Rails with Warden.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![miked](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/ed655f/32.png) [@miked](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/miked)\
**Post date:** [August 12, 2010, 7:48pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/user-authentication-plugin/193167/5 "2010-08-12T19:48:16Z")

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> > I have to start a new application. Can anyone tell me whether should I  
> > use “Restful Authentication” or “Authlogic”?

Definately Authlogic.

It takes a bit longer to set up than Restful\_authentication but it is  
TOTALLY worth it.

The main reason is because with Authlogic, YOU write some basic code.  
But with Restful\_authentication, it generates all this code that is  
hard to customize and maintain.

Here’s a railscast: [#160 Authlogic - RailsCasts](http://railscasts.com/episodes/160-authlogic)