Auth0 vs Clerk
Auth0 and Clerk are both security & identity tools. Auth0 is aimed at developers and enterprise, while Clerk is aimed at developers. Clerk costs less, from $25/mo versus $35/mo for Auth0. Both have a free plan.
| Pricing | Freemium · $35 | Freemium · $25 |
| Starting price | $35/mo | $25/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Built for | Developers, Enterprise | Developers |
| Platforms | web | web |
| Country | US · 2013 | US · 2019 |
| Rating | — | — |
Choose Auth0 if
Companies with enterprise SSO requirements or large consumer user bases.
- Generous free tier (25k MAU)
- Enterprise SSO and compliance depth
- Reliable at huge scale
Look elsewhere if: Early-stage React apps wanting prebuilt UI (Clerk) or teams wanting self-hosted ownership (Better Auth, Keycloak).
Choose Clerk if
React and Next.js teams who want production auth with great UX immediately.
- Beautiful components save weeks of work
- Generous free tier
- Organizations and B2B features built in
Look elsewhere if: Teams requiring full ownership of auth data (Better Auth, Keycloak) or non-JS stacks.
Auth0 vs Clerk pricing
Auth0
- Free$0Up to 25,000 MAU, 1 custom domain, community support
- Essentials$35/moB2C, 500 MAU base; B2B from $150/mo; yearly = 11x monthly
- Professional$240/moB2C, 500 MAU base; B2B from $800/mo; 12 tenants
- EnterpriseCustom99.99% SLA, 30-day log retention
Clerk
- Hobby$050,000 monthly retained users per app, 3 dashboard seats
- Pro$25/mo$20/mo billed annually; 50k MRUs, then from $0.02/MRU
- Business$300/mo$250/mo billed annually; 10 dashboard seats
- EnterpriseCustomAnnual billing; 99.99% uptime SLA, volume discounts
Auth0 · Key features
- Universal Login with social, enterprise and passwordless
- MFA, passkeys and adaptive attack protection
- Organizations for B2B multi-tenant SSO
- Fine-grained authorization and RBAC
- Actions for custom flows and integrations
- SDKs for web, mobile and backend
Cons
- Expensive once beyond free or with enterprise connections
- Complex configuration
- UI customization takes effort
Clerk · Key features
- Prebuilt UI components for auth and user profile
- Email, password, passkeys, OTP and 20+ social providers
- Organizations, roles and permissions (B2B)
- MFA, bot protection and session management
- Clerk Billing for subscriptions and feature gating
- SDKs for Next.js, React, Remix, Expo, Astro and more
Cons
- User data lives with a third party
- Per-user (MRU) cost grows with scale
- Enhanced features (SAML, MFA) cost extra
Auth0 vs Clerk: FAQ
Which is cheaper, Auth0 or Clerk?
Clerk starts at $25/mo and Auth0 at $35/mo. Both prices are checked on the vendors' own pricing pages.
Do Auth0 and Clerk have a free plan?
Yes, both Auth0 and Clerk have a free plan; paid plans add more usage and features.