Clerk is a security & identity tool for Developers, offered as freemium ($25/mo). Founded in United States in 2019. Popular alternatives include Auth0, Better Auth.
About Clerk
Clerk is an authentication and user management service built for modern JavaScript applications, based in San Francisco. Instead of writing sign-in flows yourself, you drop in prebuilt React components such as SignIn, SignUp, UserButton, UserProfile and OrganizationSwitcher that look polished out of the box and handle the security details behind them.
Clerk supports email and password, magic links, one-time codes, passkeys and more than twenty social providers, along with multi-factor authentication, bot protection, session management and device tracking. Organizations, roles and permissions cover B2B SaaS needs, and SDKs exist for Next.js, React, Remix, Expo, Astro, Vue and backend frameworks. Since February 2026 the free Hobby plan covers up to 50,000 monthly retained users per app, replacing the earlier 10,000-user limit; Pro and Business are flat monthly fees with per-user charges above the included volume, and SAML SSO and advanced MFA sit in paid tiers. In 2025 Clerk Billing, built on Stripe, added subscription plans and feature gating tied to users and organizations.
Clerk fits React and Next.js teams that want production-grade auth with excellent UX on day one. The trade-offs are that user data lives with a third party, per-user costs grow with scale, and non-JavaScript stacks are less well served. Auth0 targets enterprises with broader protocol support, Supabase Auth and Firebase Auth come bundled with a backend, and Better Auth or Keycloak let you own the data entirely.
Key features of Clerk
- 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
Pros and cons
Pros
- Beautiful components save weeks of work
- Generous free tier
- Organizations and B2B features built in
- Excellent Next.js integration and docs
Cons
- User data lives with a third party
- Per-user (MRU) cost grows with scale
- Enhanced features (SAML, MFA) cost extra
- Less control than self-hosted auth
Clerk pricing
Clerk uses a freemium model.
| Plan | Price | Includes |
|---|---|---|
| Hobby | $0 | 50,000 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 |
| Enterprise | Custom | Annual billing; 99.99% uptime SLA, volume discounts |
Source: clerk.com · checked on Oct 20, 2026
How Clerk compares in Security & identity
- Rank by votes
- #1 / 24
- Starting price
- $25
- Free alternatives
- 3
0 votes from members
213% above the category median ($8/mo)
Free or open-source tools in Security & identity
Clerk ranks #1 of 24 security & identity tools by community votes and is priced above most tools in the category.
Common use cases
- 1Next.js SaaS with organizations and role-based access
- 2Mobile app with Expo needing social login
- 3Startup gating features by subscription via Clerk Billing
- 4Internal tool with SSO on the enhanced add-on
Best for
React and Next.js teams who want production auth with great UX immediately.
Not ideal for
Teams requiring full ownership of auth data (Better Auth, Keycloak) or non-JS stacks.
Integrations
- Next.js
- React
- Remix
- Expo
- Supabase
- Convex
- Firebase
- Stripe (Billing)
- Slack
- Webhooks
Our take
Clerk is the fastest route to excellent auth in a React app and free for most early products. Decide early whether owning user data matters; migrating later is painful.
FAQ
- What is Clerk?
- Clerk is a Security & identity tool: Drop-in authentication and user management.
- How much does Clerk cost?
- Clerk uses a Freemium model; paid plans start at $25 per month.
- What are the best alternatives to Clerk?
- Community-listed alternatives to Clerk include Auth0, Better Auth.
- What does Clerk integrate with?
- Clerk integrates with Next.js, React, Remix, Expo, Supabase, Convex and more.
- Which platforms does Clerk support?
- Clerk is available on web.
- Who is Clerk for?
- React and Next.js teams who want production auth with great UX immediately.
Alternatives to Clerk
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