Token based vs URL based email verification [duplicate]

Question

For email verification during user registration which method would be better if we are taking following (or more - which I am missing) points:

From user point of view

• Authenticity - Fear of clicking to scary looking URLs
• Ease of use - as in case of URL based method user just needs to click the URL and token based method will require user to copy and then paste to the particular verify field

From user + developer point of view

• Reliability - Maintaining each method like expiration of each.
• Any other point that I am missing

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Note: For link expiration I have already read this post but that doesn't cover expiration of token based method.

Answer 1

Your con for email authentication by URL is that the URL is longer and scarier looking than the shorter URL to the location where people can enter a code.

But you can simply hide the long and scary URL behind a bright and inviting button. True, you would have to display the entire URL for people to copy and paste in their browser, because some email clients don't support links, but you can style these links to be less scary. Just put them in a box (border or background color) and decrease contrast between font color and background color.