The real cost of building one OAuth integration

Building and maintaining OAuth integrations often requires significantly more time and resources than initially estimated due to the complexity and scope beyond just the authorization flow. This involves managing client credentials, handling token storage with encryption, implementing token refresh logic with distributed locking, and dealing with provider-specific quirks such as error handling and revocation detection. Each integration demands continuous maintenance due to frequent provider API changes, and a single integration can cost approximately $48,000 per year when considering engineering, maintenance, and customer support. Multiple integrations exacerbate these challenges as each provider presents unique requirements that do not scale linearly with existing infrastructure. Solutions like WorkOS Pipes aim to simplify these processes by offering a unified infrastructure across different providers, reducing the time and effort required to build and manage OAuth integrations, thus allowing teams to focus more on their core products.

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