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.
Pricing Plans
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
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
Which Plan Do You Need?
React/Next.js developers
Startups needing fast auth setup
B2C apps with social login
Teams wanting pre-built UI components
Our Recommendation
startup
Hobby plan handles 50K users free. Upgrade to Pro ($20/mo annual) when you need branding removal or SSO. Budget for SMS if using phone verification.
enterprise
Business at $250/mo for dashboard seats and admin features. Enterprise for SLA guarantees and HIPAA.
freelancer
Hobby is perfect for client projects. 50K users covers virtually any freelance project without cost.
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.
Clerk Pricing FAQ
How much does Clerk cost?
Clerk starts at $1.67/month on the Pro plan. It offers 2 paid tiers ranging from $1.67/month up to $20.83/month. A free plan is also available with limited features.
Does Clerk have a free plan?
Yes. Clerk offers a free plan called "Hobby (Free)". It includes: 50,000 monthly retained users, Unlimited applications, Pre-built UI components.
What is the cheapest Clerk paid plan?
The cheapest paid plan for Clerk is "Pro" at $1.67/month. Key features include: 50,000 MRU included, Overage: $0.02/MRU (50K-100K), Remove Clerk branding.
Is there a cheaper alternative to Clerk?
Yes. Popular alternatives to Clerk include Permit.io, CyberArk, LastPass, Linx Security. Free alternatives include Permit.io, LastPass. Compare them side-by-side on Toolradar.
Cheaper alternatives to Clerk
Direct competitors with similar features. Many offer free tiers or lower per-seat pricing.
