Cybersecurity · head to head
Authy vs Syft
Authy
Cybersecurity
Twilio's free authenticator app with encrypted cloud backup, mobile only since the desktop clients were withdrawn in 2024.
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
Syft
Cybersecurity
Generates a software bill of materials from images, filesystems and archives
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Each has a real cost: Authy there is no export function for stored TOTP secrets, so moving to a different authenticator means disabling and re-enrolling two-factor authentication on every account individually, which is the reason most users stay rather than a reason anyone should choose it.; Syft lockfile parsing can drop packages silently. An open issue filed in August 2026 reports the yarn v1 cataloguer returning 118 of 745 packages with no error raised, which means a complete bill of materials and an 84 percent incomplete one look identical to the caller.
- They diverge on capability: Authy covers Encrypted cloud backup, Syft covers Multi-format output.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Authy and Syft actually diverge.
Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Cybersecurity).
What each one covers
Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.
Only in Authy
- Encrypted cloud backup
- Multi-device sync
- Standard TOTP
- Offline code generation
- App lock
- Multi-device toggle
- Token organisation
- Free with no account tier
Only in Syft
- Multi-format output
- Broad ecosystem coverage
- Binary classifiers
- In-toto attestations
- Library and CLI
- Pairs with Grype
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
Authy
- An individual who wants two-factor authentication on personal accounts and needs it to survive losing or replacing a phonenot Syft
- A small team sharing access to a service account where the same tokens must be available on more than one handsetnot Syft
- Replacing SMS-based codes with TOTP for someone who would abandon two-factor entirely if recovery were difficultnot Syft
- Consolidating tokens scattered across several apps onto one device list with recognisable names and iconsnot Syft
Syft
- Producing a bill of materials for a customer or regulator that requires onenot Authy
- Feeding an inventory into a vulnerability scanner rather than scanning images directlynot Authy
- Recording what shipped in a build so a future disclosure can be answered quicklynot Authy
- Public sector work where an SBOM is a contractual deliverablenot Authy
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
Authy
- There is no export function for stored TOTP secrets, so moving to a different authenticator means disabling and re-enrolling two-factor authentication on every account individually, which is the reason most users stay rather than a reason anyone should choose it.
- The Windows, macOS and Linux desktop applications were discontinued in 2024 and stopped working, so any workflow that depended on copying codes on a computer now requires a phone in hand, and users who held tokens only on a desktop client had to restore from backup or re-enrol.
- The account is keyed to a phone number, so an attacker who takes over that number through a SIM swap can begin the device registration flow, and the only remaining control is the backup password that most users set once and cannot recall.
- In 2024 an unauthenticated Twilio endpoint allowed attackers to confirm which numbers from a supplied list were registered Authy accounts, exposing around 33 million phone numbers, which disclosed no codes but handed phishers a validated list of people known to use two-factor authentication.
- It is a free consumer application inside a company that has already retired the paid Authy developer API it once supported, so it carries no revenue of its own, and users should treat its continued existence as a business decision rather than a roadmap commitment.
Syft
- Lockfile parsing can drop packages silently. An open issue filed in August 2026 reports the yarn v1 cataloguer returning 118 of 745 packages with no error raised, which means a complete bill of materials and an 84 percent incomplete one look identical to the caller.
- Fidelity varies sharply by ecosystem. Conan for C and C++, Haskell and Terraform get cataloguer support with no licence data, no dependency relationships and no file ownership, so a C and C++ shop gets the least from it.
- Binary classification yields no licence or dependency metadata, and vendored or statically linked code is exactly where supply chain risk hides, so the blind spot and the risk overlap.
- Incorrect CPE values and CPE collisions are recorded as open issues, and since Grype matches on CPE and PURL, an inventory error becomes a false negative in the security report downstream.
- An inventory is not a risk assessment. Even a perfect bill of materials says a vulnerable version is present, never that the vulnerable function is called, and the triage burden lands entirely on the reader.
Pricing, plan by plan
Authy
FreeNo published plan breakdown. See the Authy review.
Syft
Free- SyftFree
- Apache-2.0
- No usage limits
- Community support
- Anchore Enterprise$undefined/year
- Policy enforcement and reporting
- Federal and commercial tiers
- Pricing not published, quoted on request
Which should you pick?
Choose Authy if
- You need encrypted cloud backup.
- You want to start without paying.
- You also want multi-device sync.
Choose Syft if
- You need multi-format output.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on macOS, Linux, Windows, Docker.
- You also want broad ecosystem coverage.
Questions people ask
- Is Authy or Syft better?
- Neither clearly leads. Authy starts at Free and Syft at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Authy or Syft?
- Authy starts at Free and Syft at Free.
- Does Authy or Syft run on more platforms?
- Authy runs on Web. Syft runs on macOS, Linux, Windows, Docker.
- Can I use Authy for free?
- Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
- What is Authy best used for?
- Authy is most often used for an individual who wants two-factor authentication on personal accounts and needs it to survive losing or replacing a phone, a small team sharing access to a service account where the same tokens must be available on more than one handset, replacing sms-based codes with totp for someone who would abandon two-factor entirely if recovery were difficult, consolidating tokens scattered across several apps onto one device list with recognisable names and icons. Of those, an individual who wants two-factor authentication on personal accounts and needs it to survive losing or replacing a phone and a small team sharing access to a service account where the same tokens must be available on more than one handset are not what Syft is typically brought in for.
- What can Authy do that Syft cannot?
- Authy covers Encrypted cloud backup, Multi-device sync, Standard TOTP, Offline code generation. Syft covers Multi-format output, Broad ecosystem coverage, Binary classifiers, In-toto attestations.
Answered from the vendors’ own pages
Authy: Is Authy still supported?
The mobile apps for iOS and Android are still available and functional. The desktop applications were withdrawn in 2024 and the Authy developer API has been retired in favour of Twilio Verify, so the surrounding product has been shrinking.
Syft: Does Syft find vulnerabilities?
No. It produces an inventory. Grype, from the same company, matches that inventory against vulnerability feeds. They are separate tools and the distinction is frequently lost.
Authy: Can I export my tokens?
No. There is no export of the underlying secrets, by design. Migrating to another authenticator means going to each service, disabling two-factor authentication and setting it up again with the new app.
Syft: Does anything in the Anchore stack do reachability analysis?
No. Neither Syft, Grype nor the commercial Anchore platform performs call graph or reachability analysis, so none of them tells you whether a vulnerable code path is actually invoked.
Authy: What happened to the desktop app?
Twilio announced its discontinuation in March 2024 and the applications stopped working later that year. There is no replacement desktop client; the mobile apps are the product now.
Syft: Is it a CNCF or OpenSSF project?
No. It is single-vendor open source owned by Anchore, with no foundation governance. That is a different licence risk profile from Sigstore.
Authy: Is multi-device sync safe to leave on?
It is the feature most worth understanding. Leaving new device registration enabled means anyone who controls your phone number can attempt to add a device. The usual advice is to turn the multi-device setting off once your devices are registered and turn it on only when you need to add one.
Syft: What does Anchore Enterprise cost?
Not published. The pricing page is contact-sales only, with named but unpriced commercial and federal tiers.
Authy: What if I lose my phone and forget the backup password?
The secrets are encrypted with that password and Twilio does not hold it, so they cannot be recovered. You would fall back to each individual service's account recovery process, which is exactly the situation the backup was meant to avoid.
Syft: How do I know my SBOM is complete?
You largely cannot, which is the honest answer. Silent partial parsing is a known open defect, so a bill of materials used for compliance should be spot-checked against a known dependency list.
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