Why we only have 'Continue with Google'

When you open Link, there's exactly one button: Continue with Google. No sign-up form, no email + password, no "forgot my password" flow. That's not a lazy design decision. It's a security decision, and it's worth explaining properly.

Passwords are the weakest link

The data has told the same story for years:

• More than half of people reuse the same password across services (Google/Harris survey, 2019: 52%). One in eight reuses it everywhere.
• HaveIBeenPwned tracks over 12 billion accounts leaked in breaches.
• The Verizon DBIR repeats it every edition: most compromises start with stolen, weak or phished credentials.

The problem is structural. Every service that asks you to create a password is asking for two things: that you pick a good one, and that they store it properly. One of the two always fails. And when it fails, the attacker doesn't just try that password here — they try it on your email, your bank and your job.

Meanwhile, behind the Google button there are thousands of security engineers, anomalous-login detection, 2FA, passkeys and anti-phishing models that, by Google's own published numbers, block 99.9% of automated attacks. No startup can match that. Neither can we. So we don't compete: we delegate.

What it means for you

• Nothing to remember. No password, no second "just for this app" password, no 90-day rotations.
• Nothing to hack. If someone steals our database tomorrow, there are no hashes to crack. The password column doesn't exist. You can't leak what you don't store.
• Your session inherits your Google account's security — which is probably already the best-protected account you have: 2FA, new-device alerts, passkeys.

The trade-offs, honestly

It would be dishonest to sell this as pure upside. It isn't:

• You need a Google account. If you don't have one, or don't want one, you can't use Zerosoftware's cloud today. The self-host option, on the other hand, asks for no login.
• We depend on Google's availability. If their auth goes down, login goes down. Your links and the API keep working — redirects don't depend on login — but the dashboard does.
• Google learns that you sign in here. We only request email and name; they see neither your activity nor your data. But that metadata exists, and if it bothers you, self-hosting is the answer.

Will we add more providers?

Yes, when they add coverage without breaking the key property: no shared secret stored on our servers. GitHub and Microsoft qualify. Passkeys qualify even better — they're the obvious future of login — and are probably what's next.

Email + password? No. That form is not coming back. The safest way to store passwords is not storing them.