---
title: Authentication
summary: >-
  Validating users at the edge means quicker logins, and less traffic to your
  servers.
url: https://www.fastly.com/documentation/solutions/use-cases/authentication
---

<p class="lead">The perfect web app authentication would be close to the end-user, it would be isolated from the rest of the system, it would be implemented and maintained by security professionals, and easy to integrate. Fastly's powerful features allow you to do just that.</p>

[Watch video on YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBImEWHji6A)

## Fastly features

Moving authentication to the edge improves performance, and can simplify your application architecture.

We have many features to help securely authenticate users at the edge – from a variety of [VCL functions](https://www.fastly.com/documentation/reference/vcl/functions/cryptographic/), to the endless possibilities of [Compute](https://www.fastly.com/documentation/guides/compute/), where you can use [dynamic backends](https://www.fastly.com/documentation/guides/integrations/non-fastly-services/developer-guide-backends/#dynamic-backends) to integrate with your favourite identity provider, and [SubtleCrypto](https://js-compute-reference-docs.edgecompute.app/docs/globals/SubtleCrypto/) to generate and verify digital signatures.

## Ideas and typical use cases

Here are some common ways our customers use Fastly for authentication:

- **Cookie management**: Set, delete, and manipulate cookies at the edge.
- **Token management**: Issue and decode tokens at the edge, like JSON Web Tokens (JWT).
- **Authentication flows**: Implement complex end-to-end authentication flows at the edge, including OAuth 2.0.
- **User management**: Manage users at the edge, including user registration, login, and logout.
- **User data**: Store user data at the edge, including user profiles, preferences, and session data.
- **Passwordless login**: Improve the user experience, and reduce the risk of a data breach.

## Solutions

> **NOTE:** This page contains a dynamic solutions table. Visit the URL to see available solutions.