diff --git a/components/login.js b/components/login.js
index fec92298..85c3ae41 100644
--- a/components/login.js
+++ b/components/login.js
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 import { signIn } from 'next-auth/react'
 import styles from './login.module.css'
 import { Form, Input, SubmitButton } from '@/components/form'
-import { useState } from 'react'
+import { useState, useEffect } from 'react'
 import Alert from 'react-bootstrap/Alert'
 import { useRouter } from 'next/router'
 import { LightningAuthWithExplainer } from './lightning-auth'
@@ -42,10 +42,10 @@ const authErrorMessages = {
   OAuthCallback: 'Error handling OAuth response. Try again or choose a different method.',
   OAuthCreateAccount: 'Could not create OAuth account. Try again or choose a different method.',
   EmailCreateAccount: 'Could not create Email account. Try again or choose a different method.',
-  Callback: 'Try again or choose a different method.',
+  Callback: 'Could not authenticate. Try again or choose a different method.',
   OAuthAccountNotLinked: 'This auth method is linked to another account. To link to this account first unlink the other account.',
   EmailSignin: 'Failed to send email. Make sure you entered your email address correctly.',
-  CredentialsSignin: 'Auth failed. Try again or choose a different method.',
+  CredentialsSignin: 'Could not authenticate. Try again or choose a different method.',
   default: 'Auth failed. Try again or choose a different method.'
 }
 
@@ -53,10 +53,23 @@ export function authErrorMessage (error) {
   return error && (authErrorMessages[error] ?? authErrorMessages.default)
 }
 
-export default function Login ({ providers, callbackUrl, multiAuth, error, text, Header, Footer }) {
+export default function Login ({ providers, callbackUrl, multiAuth, error, text, Header, Footer, signin }) {
   const [errorMessage, setErrorMessage] = useState(authErrorMessage(error))
   const router = useRouter()
 
+  // signup/signin awareness cookie
+  useEffect(() => {
+    const cookieOptions = [
+      `signin=${!!signin}`,
+      'path=/',
+      'max-age=' + (signin ? 60 * 60 * 24 : 0), // 24 hours if signin is true, expire the cookie otherwise
+      'SameSite=Lax',
+      process.env.NODE_ENV === 'production' ? 'Secure' : ''
+    ].filter(Boolean).join(';')
+
+    document.cookie = cookieOptions
+  }, [signin])
+
   if (router.query.type === 'lightning') {
     return <LightningAuthWithExplainer callbackUrl={callbackUrl} text={text} multiAuth={multiAuth} />
   }
diff --git a/pages/api/auth/[...nextauth].js b/pages/api/auth/[...nextauth].js
index 17ebd7f2..49db1e87 100644
--- a/pages/api/auth/[...nextauth].js
+++ b/pages/api/auth/[...nextauth].js
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ import { hashEmail } from '@/lib/crypto'
 import * as cookie from 'cookie'
 import { multiAuthMiddleware } from '@/pages/api/graphql'
 import { BECH32_CHARSET } from '@/lib/constants'
+import { NodeNextRequest } from 'next/dist/server/base-http/node'
 
 /**
  * Stores userIds in user table
@@ -94,6 +95,8 @@ function getCallbacks (req, res) {
      */
     async jwt ({ token, user, account, profile, isNewUser }) {
       if (user) {
+        // reset signup cookie if any
+        res.appendHeader('Set-Cookie', cookie.serialize('signin', '', { path: '/', expires: 0, maxAge: 0 }))
         // token won't have an id on it for new logins, we add it
         // note: token is what's kept in the jwt
         token.id = Number(user.id)
@@ -205,7 +208,8 @@ async function pubkeyAuth (credentials, req, res, pubkeyColumnName) {
         if (token?.id && !multiAuth) {
           user = await prisma.user.update({ where: { id: token.id }, data: { [pubkeyColumnName]: pubkey } })
         } else {
-          // we're not logged in: create new user with that pubkey
+          // create a new user only if we're trying to sign up
+          if (new NodeNextRequest(req).cookies.signin) return null
           user = await prisma.user.create({ data: { name: pubkey.slice(0, 10), [pubkeyColumnName]: pubkey } })
         }
       }
@@ -314,6 +318,7 @@ export const getAuthOptions = (req, res) => ({
   adapter: {
     ...PrismaAdapter(prisma),
     createUser: data => {
+      if (req.cookies.signin) return null
       // replace email with email hash in new user payload
       if (data.email) {
         const { email } = data
diff --git a/pages/login.js b/pages/login.js
index e3e453c6..4c56ef67 100644
--- a/pages/login.js
+++ b/pages/login.js
@@ -81,6 +81,7 @@ export default function LoginPage (props) {
       <Login
         Footer={() => <LoginFooter callbackUrl={props.callbackUrl} />}
         Header={() => <LoginHeader />}
+        signin
         {...props}
       />
     </StaticLayout>