Explain the differences between JWT and OAuth in authentication.

JWT: A compact, URL-safe means of representing claims to be transferred between two parties.

• Benefits: stateless session management, can be easily passed in URL, headers, etc.
• Use cases: ideal for microservices architectures.

OAuth: A protocol for authorization that allows third-party services to exchange user’s information without sharing passwords.

• Benefits: secure delegated access; users can control what data is shared with third parties.
• Use cases: social login integrations (e.g., signing in with Facebook or Google).

Trade-offs:

• JWT is simpler for authentication directly, while OAuth offers more control over resource sharing between applications.