---
title: "Manage and Authenticate Users with Netlify Identity"
description: "By the power of GoTrue you can use Netlify Identity to help gate content, add site administration, login with external OAuth providers, and more!"
source: "https://www.netlify.com/blog/2021/12/30/manage-and-authenticate-users-with-netlify-identity/"
last_updated: "2026-07-15T21:59:45.000Z"
---
“Authenticating users is a no-brainer”, said no one ever. Managing user data, creating a login process, setting roles, gating content, these things are hard. One of my favorite strategies in web app development is getting a leg up by having someone else do the hard part. After all, you can’t spell ‘delegation’ without ‘leg’.
[Netlify Identity](https://docs.netlify.com/visitor-access/identity/) lets us delegate a ton of authentication functionality:
- the setup and infrastructure of storing user information, as well
- login using external OAuth providers like GitHub, Google, GitLab, and Bitbucket
- trigger serverless functions on validation, signup, or login events
- generate custom emails
- access and edit user information and roles
- and more!
Leveraging the open-source [GoTrue API](https://github.com/netlify/gotrue), Netlify Identity can be added to your site with the [Netlify Identity widget](https://github.com/netlify/netlify-identity-widget) by adding this `
```
then including the widget in the site template, like so:
```
Login with Netlify Identity
```
Put it all together and you get this lovely pop-up modal window where users can login or sign up!
Check out the [Netlify Identity docs](https://docs.netlify.com/visitor-access/identity/) to learn more about everything you can do. I can’t wait to see (or not see if I’m not logged in) all the authentication functionality you create! Happy coding 👩🏻💻!
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### Tags
- [Netlify Identity](/blog/tags/netlify-identity/)
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