Better Auth vs Clerk
Better Auth and Clerk are both security & identity tools aimed at developers. Better Auth costs less, from $20/mo versus $25/mo for Clerk. Both have a free plan.
Framework-agnostic TypeScript authentication
Drop-in authentication and user management
| Pricing | Open source · $20 | Freemium · $25 |
| Starting price | $20/mo | $25/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Built for | Developers | Developers |
| Platforms | web | web |
| Country | US · 2024 | US · 2019 |
| Rating | — | — |
Choose Better Auth if
TypeScript developers who want complete ownership and flexibility without paying per user.
- Free and MIT licensed; you own user data
- Comprehensive plugin set rivals hosted providers
- Excellent TypeScript DX
Look elsewhere if: Teams that want hosted UI and zero maintenance (Clerk) or heavy enterprise SSO today (Auth0).
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.
Better Auth vs Clerk pricing
Better Auth
- Open source$0MIT library, self-hosted, no per-user fees
- Starter$0Managed infra: 1 dashboard seat, 10k audit logs/mo
- Pro$20/moUnlimited seats, 20k audit logs/mo, 1 SSO connection
- EnterpriseCustomCustom limits, log drain, Slack support
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
Better Auth · Key features
- Email/password, OAuth, magic link, passkeys and OTP
- Plugins: organizations, teams, 2FA, admin, multi-session, API keys
- Database adapters for Drizzle, Prisma, Kysely and more
- Framework integrations: Next.js, Nuxt, SvelteKit, Hono, Express
- Typed client hooks for React, Vue and Svelte
- Rate limiting, session management and CLI migrations
Cons
- You host and secure it yourself
- No prebuilt UI components (bring your own)
- Younger project; APIs still evolving
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
Better Auth vs Clerk: FAQ
Which is cheaper, Better Auth or Clerk?
Better Auth starts at $20/mo and Clerk at $25/mo. Both prices are checked on the vendors' own pricing pages.
Do Better Auth and Clerk have a free plan?
Yes, both Better Auth and Clerk have a free plan; paid plans add more usage and features.