Authentication for modern apps
Visit WebsiteThe Bottom Line
Entry price
Free plan available, paid tiers above
Biggest pro
Beautiful UI components
Biggest con
Vendor lock-in
TL;DR - Clerk
- Modern authentication for developers
- Drop-in React components for auth
- Built for the modern stack
What is Clerk?
Available on: Web
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Beautiful UI components
- Easy setup
- Great DX
Cons
- Vendor lock-in
- Pricing can add up
Ratings Across the Web
Clerk holds an aggregate rating of 4.7 out of 5 from 145 reviews across G2 and Capterra, last checked March 18, 2026.
Ratings aggregated from independent review platforms. Learn more
Key Features
Pricing Plans
Pricing checked Aug 26, 2026
Hobby (Free)
Free
No credit card required
- 50,000 monthly retained users
- Unlimited applications
- Pre-built UI components
- Social login
- Email/password auth
- Bot protection
- Community support
Pro
$20/month (annual)
$25/month if billed monthly
- 50,000 MRU included
- Overage: $0.02/MRU (50K-100K)
- Remove Clerk branding
- MFA (SMS + TOTP)
- Passkeys
- Enterprise SSO (SAML/OIDC)
- 24/7 email support
Business
$250/month (annual)
$300/month if billed monthly
- Same MRU pricing as Pro
- 10 dashboard seats included
- B2B authentication add-on available
- Administration features
- Priority support
Enterprise
Custom
Annual billing only
- 99.99% uptime SLA
- Committed use discounts
- HIPAA compliance
- Dedicated support
- Custom contracts
Is Clerk worth the price?
Clerk offers the most developer-friendly auth with 50K free users, enough for most startups to reach revenue before paying.
Pro at $20/mo is reasonable, but SMS and enterprise SSO add-ons can surprise you.
Hidden Costs & Gotchas
SMS authentication costs $0.01 per message (US/CA), adds up for MFA-heavy apps
Enterprise SSO connections cost $75/month each on Pro
B2B authentication add-on is $85/month extra
Satellite domains (custom auth domains) cost $10/month each
MRU counts retained users, not active, deleted users still count until month resets
How Clerk Compares to Competitors
Auth0 free tier caps at 25K MAU (vs Clerk 50K) and charges $240/mo for B2B features. Supabase Auth is free with self-hosted but lacks pre-built UI. Firebase Auth is free to 50K MAU but has no embeddable components. Clerk wins on DX and React integration.
How Clerk's pricing compares
At $20.83/mo, Clerk is mid-range of its 4 direct competitors ($0.05 to $240/mo across the set).
Entry paid plan, monthly. Pricing checked Aug 26, 2026.
Reviews
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Across 145 verified user reviews on G2, Capterra
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Best Clerk Alternatives
Top alternatives based on features, pricing, and user needs.
Enterprise identity management
App development platform by Google
Backend authentication by Google
Identity platform for developers
Open source Firebase alternative
Open-source identity and access management
Authentication infrastructure for developers
Still deciding?
Most buyers shortlist 2 or 3 tools before committing. Pull a side-by-side comparison or browse the full alternatives shortlist below.
Explore More
Clerk FAQ
How does Clerk simplify the integration of authentication into applications?
Which teams would benefit most from using Clerk?
How is Clerk's pricing structured?
Can Clerk manage user organizations within an application?
What kind of trade-offs should developers consider when choosing Clerk?
How does Clerk compare to Auth0 for authentication services?
Source: clerk.com